When I learnt to write I became my own master, I became very strong, and that strength is with me to this very day.
V. S. NaipaulRead
If you decide to move to another country and to live within its laws you don't express your disregard for the essence of the culture. It's a form of aggression.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Respecting a country's culture is essential when you choose to live there.
V. S. Naipaul emphasizes the importance of respecting and understanding a new culture when deciding to move to another country. When individuals disregard the cultural norms and essence of the society they have chosen to join, it not only showcases a lack of respect but can also be seen as an aggressive act that undermines the values of that society.
Themes
CultureRespectLawsAggressionDisregardEssence
In practice
Example use cases
During a cultural exchange program, it's vital to remember Naipaul's quote to encourage respect for the host country.
More from V. S. Naipaul
All quotes βIt is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.
V. S. NaipaulRead
One must always try to see the truth of a situation - it makes things universal.
V. S. NaipaulRead
His ignorance seemed to widen with everything he read.
V. S. NaipaulRead
I think when you see so many Hindu temples of the 10th century or earlier disfigured, defaced, you realise that something terrible happened. I feel the civilisation of that closed world was mortally wounded by those invasions the old world is destroyed. That has to be understood. Ancient Hindu India was destroyed.
V. S. NaipaulRead
All the things that were read to me by my father were stories about things becoming all right.
V. S. NaipaulRead
Similar quotes
The working-class black Southern Christian culture I come from still nurtures me, and I mean directly, daily.
Bell HooksRead
What makes Harlem special is that at any given time, food seekers can not only find food deeply rooted in Southern, Latin and African traditions, but also can taste the newer Senegalese, Chinese, and Italian influences as well.
Marcus SamuelssonRead
Football is to Texas what religion is to a priest.
Tom LandryRead
As the global expansion of Indian and Chinese restaurants suggests, xenophobia is directed against foreign people, not foreign cultural imports.
Eric HobsbawmRead
...culture is useless unless it is constantly challenged by counter culture. People create culture; culture creates people. It is a two-way street. When people hide behind a culture, you know that's a dead culture.
Muhammad YunusRead
There's a tradition - in New Orleans it still exists - where people play in the street. People play outside of the venues. Food, music, and that cultural exchange, it happens anywhere.
Jon BatisteRead