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All Diversity Quotes
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Cross Cultural Quotes
"A Senegalese poet said 'In the end we will conserve only what we love. We love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.' We must learn about other cultures in order to understand, in order to love, and in order to preserve our common world heritage."
–Yo Yo Ma, White House Conference on Culture and Diplomacy
"Strangers in a new culture see only what they know."
-Unknown
"We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors. But, they all fit nicely into the same box."
-Unknown
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it solely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
-Mark Twain
"Every view of the world that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes a possibility of life."
-Octavio Paz
"With all the diversity in the world, people of different religious groups, color, race, education, development, and maturity, there is one thing in common among all of us. One thing that ties each one of us to every other one, we are all moving into the future, at the same speed, simultaneously on this journey."
-Anonymous
"Knowing yourself is not so much about introspection and interaction. To know yourself is to realize that you are more than the little self that has been given to you by your history — the pattern that others made — that your true self is, in truth, much larger and includes other people, other cultures, other species even. That life is less about being and more about interbeing. We come to know ourselves, then, through coming to know each other. And the deeper that knowledge, the richer and more creative the world we build together "
-Danny Martin, Director of ICRE (International Communities for the Renewal of the Earth)
"It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of our own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity."
-Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom'
"Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul."
-Edward Abbey
"Even when we interact daily with people of other ethnic groups, we rarely talk about racial issues. It seems too scary to people. But we must start doing it! We have to break down the barriers between us and talk openly, honestly, and with respect. The rewards far outweigh any concerns we may have."
-Sue Alperin
"Understand the differences; act on the commonalities."
-Andrew Masondo, African National Congress
"Without mutual knowledge there can be no mutual understanding; without understanding, there can be no trust and respect; without trust, there can be no peace, only the danger of conflict. This means we have to be willing and able to familiarize ourselves with the way people of other cultures think and perceive the world around them, but without losing our own standpoint in the process."
-Roman Herzog, President of Germany
"Diversity…is not casual liberal tolerance of anything not yourself. It is not polite accommodation. Instead, diversity is, in action, the sometimes painful awareness that other people, other races, other voices, other habits of mind have as much integrity of being, as much claim on the world as you do… And I urge you, amid all the differences present to the eye and mind, to reach out to create the bond that…will protect us all. We are all meant to be here together."
-William M. Chase, "The Language of Action"
"I do not wish my house to be walled on all sides and my windows stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible."
-Mahatma Gandhi
"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving."
-Lao Tzu (780 - 490 B.C.)
"Men hate each other because they fear each other, and they fear each other because they don't know each other, and they don't know each other because they are often separated from each other."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I used to think that anyone doing something weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people who call others weird who are weird."
-Paul McCartney
" We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams."
-Jimmy Carter
"Embracing diversity is one adventure after another, opening new paths of discovery that connect an understanding to caring, listening, and sharing with others who are different than ourselves."
-April Holland
"It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength. We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the treads of that tapestry are equal in value no matter their color.”
- Maya Angelou, Author
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Activist
“I believe in the brotherhood of all men, but I don't believe in wasting brotherhood on anyone who doesn't want to practice it with me. Brotherhood is a two-way street.”
- Malcolm X, Minister & Human Rights Activist
“Tolerance, inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where peoples are becoming more and more closely interconnected.”
- Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations
“The impulse to dream was slowly beaten out of me by experience. Now it surged up again and I hungered for books, new ways of looking and seeing.”
- Richard Wright, Writer
“To understand how any society functions you must understand the relationship between the men and the women.”
- Angela Davis, Author & Political Activist
“America is not like a blanket—one piece of unbroken cloth. America is more like a quilt— many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven together by a common thread.”
- Rev. Jesse Jackson
“When our thoughts - which bring actions - are filled with hate against anyone, Negro or white, we are in a living hell. That is as real as hell will ever be.”
- George Washington Carver, Botanist & Inventor
“None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin. This fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath.”
- Marian Anderson, Singer
“We face neither East nor West; we face forward”
-Kwame Nkrumah, First President of Ghana
“We really are fifteen different countries and it's really remarkable that each of us thinks we represent the real America. The Midwesterner in Kansas, the black American in Durham—both are certain they are the real American.”
- Maya Angelou, Author
“Truth knows no color; it appeals to intelligence.”
- James Cone, Theologian
“America is woven of many strands. I would recognize them and let it so remain. Our fate is to become one, and yet many. This is not prophecy, but description.”
- Ralph Ellison, Novelist
“Ours is supposed to be a government in which classes and distinctions melt into a harmonious whole. Until we reach this ideal of government, we will be a distracted, contentious people.”
- Thomas Fortune, Journalist
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. If [people] can learn to hate they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
- Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa
“Men hate each other because they fear each other, and they fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they are often separated from each other.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Activist
“We allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think we can survive alone, alone in patches, alone in groups, alone in races, even alone in genders.”
- Maya Angelou, Author
“What I know for sure is that behind every catastrophe, there are great lessons to be learned. Among the many that we as a country need to get is that as long as we play the "us and them" game, we don't evolve as people, as a nation, as a planet.”
- Oprah Winfrey, Entertainer
“If we could but recognize our common humanity, that we do belong together, that our destinies are bound up in one another’s, that we can be free only together, that we can survive only together, that we can be human only together, then a glorious world would come into being where all of us lived harmoniously together as members of one family, the human family.”
- Desmond Tutu, South African Bishop & Civil Rights Activist
“The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one's key to the experience of others.”
- James Baldwin, Novelist
“How do we create a harmonious society out of so many kinds of people? The key is tolerance, the one value that is indispensable in creating community.”
- Barbara Jordan, Politician
“We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Activist
“How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong because someday in life you will have been all of these.”
- George Washington Carver, Botanist & Inventor
“Light came to me when I realized that I did not have to consider any racial group as a whole. God made them duck by duck and that was the only way I could see them.”
- Zora Neale Hurston, Novelist
“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try to understand each other, we may even become friends.”
- Maya Angelou, Author
“We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.”
- Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations
“I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.”
- Malcolm X, Minister & Human Rights Activist
“Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow --red, yellow, brown, black and white --and we're all precious in God's sight.”
- Rev. Jesse Jackson
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Activist
People can only live fully by helping others to live. When you give life to friends you truly live. Cultures can only realize their further richness by honoring other traditions. And only by respecting natural life can humanity continue to exist.”
- Daisaku Ikeda, Japanese Peace Activist
“When we enlarge our view of the world, we deepen our understanding of our own lives.”
- Yo-Yo Ma, Cellist
“We need to reach that happy stage of our development when differences and diversity are not seen as sources of division and distrust, but of strength and inspiration.”
- Josefa Iloilo, Fijian Statesman
“No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.”
- Mahatma Gandhi, Indian Philosopher & Activist
“We need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges.”
- Tim Berners-Lee, British Physicist
“Our cultural strength has always been derived from our diversity of understanding and experience.”
- Yo-Yo Ma, Cellist
“The mysteries of creation are marvelous. When two persons meet at any time or place, the differences between them are patent. Their forms and manners differ. They differ in their cleverness and intelligence. Their opinions also vary. Without understanding what underlies these differences, the materialist thinker emphasizes the differences. Today, a growing number of intellectuals, ignoring the unity that underlies the diversity, propagate the cult of differences. The good persons who realize the unity behind the apparent diversity are dwindling in numbers from day to day. This is highly unfortunate.”
- Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Indian Spiritual Leader
“Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.”
- Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India
“We have the ability to achieve, if we master the necessary goodwill, a common global society blessed with a shared culture of peace that is nourished by the ethnic, national and local diversities that enrich our lives.”
- Mahnaz Afkhami, Iranian-American Human Rights Activist
“We live now in a global village and we are in one single family. It’s our responsibility to bring friendship and love from all different places around the world and to live together in peace.”
- Jackie Chan, Actor
“Internal peace is an essential first step to achieving peace in the world. How do you cultivate it? It's very simple. In the first place by realizing clearly that all mankind is one, that human beings in every country are members of one and the same family.”
- Dalai Lama
"I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”
- Mahatma Gandhi, Indian Philosopher & Activist
“My hope is for us to come together not only embracing shared beliefs and values, but acknowledging our differences in ways that promote respect and appreciation. To ask for a shared vision is a fair and legitimate human proposal; what is not fair and legitimate is to dictate the ways on how we get there. If we are to emerge from the long shadows that can engulf us, we must talk with each other, come to understand each other, and renew ourselves and our perceptions of each other."
- Alma Abdul-Hadi Jadallah, Conflict Resolution Specialist
“Uniformity is not nature's way; diversity is nature's way.”
- Vandana Shiva, Indian Philosopher and Activist
“Don't become too narrow. Live fully. Meet all kinds of people. You'll learn something from everyone. Follow what you feel in your heart.”
- Yuri Kochiyama, Japanese-American Human Rights Activist
“When you learn something from people, or from a culture, you accept it as a gift, and it is your lifelong commitment to preserve it and build on it.”
- Yo-Yo Ma, Cellist
“Diversity in the world is a basic characteristic of human society, and also the key condition for a lively and dynamic world as we see today. “
- Hu Jintao, Chinese Statesman
“Identity is a concept of our age that should be used very carefully. All types of identities, ethnic, national, religious, sexual or whatever else, can become your prison after a while. The identity that you stand up for can enslave you and close you to the rest of the world.”
- Murathan Mungan, Turkish Author
“The war we have to wage today has only one goal and that is to make the world safe for diversity.”
- U Thant, Burmese Diplomat
“All the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart. Peace has been said to be indivisible, so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this one world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.”
- Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India
“Our expanding ethnic diversity of this century, a time when we will all be minorities, offers us an invitation to create a larger memory of who we are as Americans and to re-affirm our founding principle of equality.”
- Ronald Takaki, Author and Ethnographer
“The primary threat to nature and people today comes from centralizing and monopolizing power and control. Not until diversity is made the logic of production will there be a chance for sustainability, justice and peace. Cultivating and conserving diversity is no luxury in our times: it is a survival imperative.”
- Vandana Shiva, Indian Philosopher and Activist
“No single tradition monopolizes the truth. We must glean the best values of all traditions and work together to remove the tensions between traditions in order to give peace a chance.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist Monk and Scholar
We should acknowledge differences; we should greet differences, until difference makes no difference anymore.”
- Dr. Adela Allen, Educator
“The ideal of a single civilization for everyone, implicit in the cult of progress and technique, impoverishes and mutilates us.
Every view of the world that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes a possibility of life”
- Octavio Paz, Mexican Author
“We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism.”
- Rigoberta Menchu, Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1992
“Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.”
- Benito Juarez, 19th Century Mexican President
“The love of one's country is a natural thing. But why should love stop at the border?”
- Pablo Casals, Spanish Cellist
“By suppressing differences and peculiarities, by eliminating different civilizations and cultures, progress weakens life and favors death.”
- Octavio Paz, Mexican Author
“Diversity for the sake of diversity is not an accomplishment or a step forward. It's what you bring to the table. “
- Charlie Gonzalez, Former Statesman
“Diversity and inclusion is a business imperative in our global marketplace.”
- Antonio Perez, Chairman and CEO of Kodak
“One thing is clear to me: We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves.”
- Barbara Jordan, Former U.S. Congresswoman
“We are a nation of communities... a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.”
- George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
- Henry David Thoreau, American Author
“Great achievements are not born from a single vision but from the combination of many distinctive viewpoints. Diversity challenges assumptions, opens minds, and unlocks our potential to solve any problems we may face.”
- Unknown
“Where there is no difference, there is only indifference.”
- Louis Nizer, American Lawyer
“When you meet a man, you judge him by his clothes; when you leave, you judge him by his heart.”
- Russian Proverb
“Here is not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations.”
- Walt Whitman, American Poet
“When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.”
- Charles Evans Hughes, Former Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court
“Every heart is the other heart. Every soul is the other soul. Every face is the other face. The individual is the one illusion.”
- Marguerite Young, Writer
“Hating skin color is contempt for God's divine creative imagination. Honoring it is appreciation for conscious, beautiful-love-inspired diversity.”
- T.F. Hodge, Author
“Diversity is the magic. It is the first manifestation, the first beginning of the differentiation of a thing and of simple identity. The greater the diversity, the greater the perfection.”
- Thomas Berry, Catholic Priest
“I have learned more about the Gospels from the handicapped people, those on the margins of our society, those who have been crushed and hurt, than I have from the wise and the prudent. They have reminded me that we are all weak and all called to death and that these are the realities of which we are most afraid. In the so-called normal world, we look at the titles and function more than at the person. We look, then we measure efficiency of action and amount of possessions rather than quality of being. People are called "Doctor", "Director", "Chairman" and so on, and often their relationships with others remain superficial and exterior, even functional. These aren't relationships between people: they are relationships between titles or functions. As long as we are going out to people of other cultures, we must go not to do good, but to listen, to touch, to admire, to watch them grow in the beauty of their being, to see them flower in their own language, to discover the diversity of mankind.”
- Jean Vanier, from the book, "Be Not Afraid" (p. 99)
“We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions—bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality. Whoever seeks to set one nationality against another, seeks to degrade all nationalities.”
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States
“One thing is clear to me: We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves.”
- Barbara Jordan, Former U.S. Congresswoman
“We are a nation of communities... a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.”
- George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
- Henry David Thoreau, American Author
“Great achievements are not born from a single vision but from the combination of many distinctive viewpoints. Diversity challenges assumptions, opens minds, and unlocks our potential to solve any problems we may face.”
- Unknown
“Where there is no difference, there is only indifference.”
- Louis Nizer, American Lawyer
“When you meet a man, you judge him by his clothes; when you leave, you judge him by his heart.”
- Russian Proverb
“Here is not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations.”
- Walt Whitman, American Poet
“When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.”
- Charles Evans Hughes, Former Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court
“Every heart is the other heart. Every soul is the other soul. Every face is the other face. The individual is the one illusion.”
- Marguerite Young, Writer
“Hating skin color is contempt for God's divine creative imagination. Honoring it is appreciation for conscious, beautiful-love-inspired diversity.”
- T.F. Hodge, Author
“Diversity is the magic. It is the first manifestation, the first beginning of the differentiation of a thing and of simple identity. The greater the diversity, the greater the perfection.”
- Thomas Berry, Catholic Priest
“I have learned more about the Gospels from the handicapped people, those on the margins of our society, those who have been crushed and hurt, than I have from the wise and the prudent. They have reminded me that we are all weak and all called to death and that these are the realities of which we are most afraid. In the so-called normal world, we look at the titles and function more than at the person. We look, then we measure efficiency of action and amount of possessions rather than quality of being. People are called "Doctor", "Director", "Chairman" and so on, and often their relationships with others remain superficial and exterior, even functional. These aren't relationships between people: they are relationships between titles or functions. As long as we are going out to people of other cultures, we must go not to do good, but to listen, to touch, to admire, to watch them grow in the beauty of their being, to see them flower in their own language, to discover the diversity of mankind.”
- Jean Vanier, from the book, "Be Not Afraid" (p. 99)
“We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions—bound together by a single unity, the unity of freedom and equality. Whoever seeks to set one nationality against another, seeks to degrade all nationalities.”
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States
“If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.”
- Margaret Mead, American Anthropologist
“The wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men.”
- John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States
“It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference of opinion that makes horse races.”
- Mark Twain, Author
“The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”
- Thomas Paine, American Revolutionary
“Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.”
- M. Scott Peck, American Psychiatrist
“Judge a tree from its fruit, not from its leaves.”
- Euripides, Greek Dramatist
“Tolerance is the oil which takes the friction out of life.”
- Wilbert Scheer, Author
“If you approach each new person you meet in a spirit of adventure, you will find yourself endlessly fascinated by the new channels of thought and experience and personality that you encounter.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt, Wife of President F. D. Roosevelt
“If you cannot mould yourself entirely as you would wish, how can you expect other people to be entirely to your liking?”
- Thomas Kempis, Medieval Christian Monk
“Minds are like parachutes — they only function when open.”
- Sir James Dewar, Scottish Physicist
“People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.”
- H. Jackson Brown Jr., American Author
“Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul.”
- Joyce Carol Oates, American Author
“Culture is the sum of all the forms of art, of love, and of thought, which, in the course of centuries, have enabled man to be less enslaved”
- Andre Maraux, French Historian & Statesman
“Fortunately, the time has long passed when people liked to regard the United States as some kind of melting pot, taking men and women from every part of the world and converting them into standardized, homogenized Americans. We are, I think, much more mature and wise today. Just as we welcome a world of diversity, so we glory in an America of diversity -- an America all the richer for the many different and distinctive strands of which it is woven.”
- Hubert H. Humphrey, 38th Vice President of the United States
“Ultimately, America's answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.”
- Robert F. Kennedy, Former U.S. Attorney General
“If we cannot end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”
- John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States
“We have become not a melting pot, but a beautiful mosaic; Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”
- Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States
“For those who have seen the Earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us.”
- Donald Williams, Former Astronaut
“What we have to do . . . is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities.”
- Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Stateswoman
“I feel my heart break to see a nation ripped apart by its own greatest strength - its diversity.”
- Melissa Etheridge, Musician
“Civilizations should be measured by the degree of diversity attained and the degree of unity retained.”
- W.H. Auden, Anglo-American Poet
“One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings.”
- Franklin Thomas, Former President for the Ford Foundation
“We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.”
- Anne Frank, Dutch Author
“Just imagine how boring life would be if we were all the same. My idea of a perfect world is one in which we really appreciated each other's differences: Short, tall; Democrat, Republican; black, white; gay, straight--a world in which all of us are equal, but definitely not the same.”
- Barbra Streisand, Actress
“The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.”
- John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (1961-1963)
“As long as the differences and diversities of mankind exist, democracy must allow for compromise, for accommodation, and for the recognition of differences.”
- Eugene McCarthy, American Politician
“Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival.”
- Rene Dubos, French-American Microbiologist
“Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day.”
- Unknown
“Differences challenge assumptions.”
-Anne Wilson Schaef, Author
“People may be said to resemble not the bricks of which a house is built, but the pieces of a picture puzzle, each differing in shape, but matching the rest, and thus bringing out the picture.”
-Felix Adler, Professor of Political and Social Ethics
“Variety is the spice of life.”
- Proverb
“Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another's uniqueness.”
- Ola Joseph, Author
“A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom.”
- Fredrich Hayek, Austrian Economist and Philosopher
“Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences.”
- Mikhail Gorbachev, Former President of the U.S.S.R.
“Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity.”
- John Hume, Irish Politician
“Cultural differences should not separate us from each other, but rather cultural diversity brings a collective strength that can benefit all of humanity.”
- Robert Alan Aurthur, Screenwriter & Director
“There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don't come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity.”
- Isaac Asimov, Russian-American Biochemistry Professor
“In world history, those who have helped to build the same culture are not necessarily of one race, and those of the same race have not all participated in one culture.”
- Ruth Fulton Benedict, American Anthropologist
“It takes a variety of people to challenge us, encourage us, promote us, and most of all, help us achieve a broader dimension of ourselves.”
- Glenn Van Ekeren, Author
“We all flow from one fountain—Soul. All are expressions of one love. God does not appear, and flow out, only from narrow chinks and round bored wells here and there in favored races and places, but He flows in grand undivided currents, shoreless and boundless over creeds and forms and all kinds of civilizations and peoples and beasts, saturating all and fountainzing all.”
- John Muir, Founder of the Sierra Club
“The wise man belongs to all countries, for the home of a great soul is the whole world”
- Democritus, Greek Philosopher
“What we need to do is learn to respect and embrace our differences until our differences don’t make a difference in how we are treated.”
- Yolanda King, Daughter of Martin Luther King
“Although we are in different boats, you in your boat and we in our canoe, we share the same river of life.”
- Chief Oren Lyons, Onandaga Nation
“Everyone in the world smiles in the same language.”
- Unknown
“Dominator culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose safety instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity. Moving through that fear, finding out what connects us, reveling in our differences; this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us a world of shared values, of meaningful community.”
- From the Book: Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope
“If diversity is a source of wonder, its opposite - the ubiquitous condensation to some blandly amorphous and singularly generic modern culture that takes for granted an impoverished environment - is a source of dismay. There is, indeed, a fire burning over the earth, taking with it plants and animals, cultures, languages, ancient skills and visionary wisdom. Quelling this flame and re-inventing the poetry of diversity is perhaps the most important challenge of our times.”
- Wade Davis, Author of The Wayfinders
“United we stand, divided we fall.”
- Aesop
“Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.”
- Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Publisher of Forbes Magazine
“I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its buildings of concrete are, but rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man.”
- Sun Bear of the Chippewa Tribe
“In the search for character and commitment, we must rid ourselves of our inherited even cherished biases and prejudices. Character, ability and intelligence are not concentrated in one sex over the other, nor in persons with certain accents or in certain races or in persons holding degrees from some universities over others. When we indulge ourselves in such irrational prejudices we damage ourselves most of all, and ultimately assure ourselves of failure in competition with those more open and less biased.”
- J. Irwin Miller, Former CEO of Cummins
“We want to continue to attract employees with abnormally high abilities, including problem-solving skills, goal orientation, global awareness and customer centrism. None of these skills differentiates between job level, gender, ethnicity, sexual preference or the 101 other ways that we pigeon-hole people.”
- Mike Baltzell, Former CEO of Alcoa Australia
“We are now living in a world of massive change and of diversity. We can’t afford to squander the capabilities of half of our population because of old customs. We need to embrace new thinking, new ways of rebuilding our societies, economies and businesses. This takes innovation and the energy of all people.”
- Ben Verwaayen, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent
“To be successful, we must harness diversity of thought. Yes, diversity of people, diversity of background, diversity of experience, diversity of skills, but most importantly, diversity of ideas. This is about a new definition of diversity that has to do with more than national origin or race or creed — it has to do with keeping the market in motion by feeding it new models, new ideas, new approaches…”
- Carly Fiorina, Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard
“A diverse group of people can be more innovative than a homogenous group. There might be more friction and discomfort among people who think differently, but the output is more innovative.”
- David Greenberg, Senior Vice President of HR for L’Oreal US
“By intentionally including the diverse perspectives, ideas, and experiences of our partners around the world, we are better equipped to accelerate the development of innovative products and technologies that our customers want and value.”
- Alan Mulally, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company
“A diversity of talent drives the creation of an outstanding organization because when a company has a healthy level of diversity, it becomes apparent to all that there is no monopoly on brains, and that good ideas come from all over the organization.”
- Norman Cann, Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Australia
“In order to achieve our strategic business objectives, a working environment that embraces diversity and is free from all forms of discrimination, including harassment, is an imperative. We must make our commitment to diversity and equal opportunity an integral part of all of our business activities. This will help ensure that we attract and retain the talent required to live our mission and pledge.”
- James M. Cornelius, CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb
“We believe that our diverse workforce enriches our organization, gives us a competitive edge and just makes good business sense.”
- Bill Linton, CEO of CallNet
“Research shows that companies that invest in diversity and inclusion benefit in terms of innovation and motivation of staff as well as enhanced reputation as an employer of choice.”
-Shalini Mahtani, Founder and CEO of Community Business Hong Kong
Cross Cultural and Diversity Quotes
Over the years the Culture Coach Team has amassed a collection of diversity quotes and cross cultural quotes and have created a convenient source to find them all on one page. In addition, we have also categorized the the quotes for those who are looking for inspirational diversity quotes from people of various ethnic backgrounds. Click one of the boxes to find the diversity quote or cross cultural quote you are looking for, or just browse all of them below.
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