Immigrants Quotes

• Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.

  Oscar Handlin

  Writing, Discovery, Usa

  Oscar Handlin (2002). “The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations That Made the American People”, p.3, University of Pennsylvania Press

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• Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.

  John F. Kennedy

  Fabric, Migration, Migrants

  President John F. Kennedy (2016). “A Nation Of Immigrants”, p.11, Pickle Partners Publishing

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• I was born in Turkey in an extremely oppressive climate at the time of pogroms, massacres, really. An immigrant appreciates the freedom more.

  Elia Kazan

  Turkeys, Appreciate, Climate

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• My father left Nazi Germany a year after Dr. Kissinger, and so in my household he was very much an icon. He was a kind of immigrant success story, a refugee success story.

  Eugene Jarecki

  Father, Years, Icons

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• I've been able to dine with presidents, with leaders of corporations, traveled for 14 years with (financier and philanthropist) Michael Milken, who has taught me so much about life. Hanging around with them, it's nothing I could have believed in grade school. I could be with all of them? Milton Berle, Don Rickles, Dean Martin ... this former third-string pitcher from the Norristown High baseball team and the son of an Italian immigrant? I really am in awe when I think that has happened to me. What a life.

  Tommy Lasorda

  Baseball, Team, School

  "Q&A: Tommy Lasorda talks food, baseball and motivation, as only Mr. Dodger can". Interview with Tom Hoffarth, www.dailynews.com. July 15, 2013.

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• America was built by immigrants. Almost nobody that I know is any more than three generations, maybe four generations, American.

  Michael Bloomberg

  America, Three, Generations

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Xenophobia, Patriotic, Usa

  Remarks before Daughters of the American Revolution Convention, Washington, D.C., 21 Apr. 1938. Often paraphrased as Roosevelt's addressing the DAR as "my fellow immigrants."

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• I don't look back, I just go forward. I'm just proud of the fact that my parents were immigrants and we had nearly nothing, and all of the sudden, with the help of a lot of people and my parents as a model, I amounted to something.

  Frank Oz

  People, Parent, Looks

  Interview with Nathan Rabin, film.avclub.com. August 16, 2007.

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• The immigrant's heart marches to the beat of two quite different drums, one from the old homeland and the other from the new. The immigrant has to bridge these two worlds, living comfortably in the new and bringing the best of his or her ancient identity and heritage to bear on life in an adopted homeland.

  Mary McAleese

  Heart, Bridges, Two

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• We [Americans] are a nation of immigrants. We all understand what this country has become because talent from all around the world wants to come here, people who are willing to take risks, people who want to build on their dreams and make sure their kids have an - even bigger dreams than they have.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Dream, Kids

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• Considering our history, I can think of nothing more American than an immigrant.

  Conor Oberst

  Thinking, Considering, I Can

  "‘MariKKKopa’: Conor Oberst Explains New Desaparecidos Track, Which Takes Aim At Sheriff Joe Arpaio". Interview with Kia Makarechi, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 1, 2012.

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• In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Men, Firsts, Facts

  Theodore Roosevelt (1954). “Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The days of Armageddon, 1900-1914”

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• There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Loyalty, Men, People

  "Teddy Roosevelt's Immigration Speech Holds True Today" by Barbara Wamboldt, www.thewhig.com. July 07, 2010.

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• Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Country, Patriotic, Years

  Theodore Roosevelt (1921). “Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star: War-time Editorials”

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• America is White and Black and Latino and Asian. America is mixed. America is immigrants.

  Jose Antonio Vargas

  White, America, Black

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• A characteristic thing about the aspiring immigrant is the fact that he is not content to progress alone. Solitary success is imperfect success in his eyes. He must take his family with him as he rises.

  Mary Antin

  Eye, Progress, Facts

  Mary Antin (2013). “The Promised Land”, p.245, Courier Corporation

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• My mother and my father were illiterate immigrants from Russia. When I was a child they were constantly amazed that I could go to a building and take a book on any subject. They couldn't believe this access to knowledge we have here in America. They couldn't believe that it was free.

  Kirk Douglas

  Mother, Children, Father

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• As a practical matter, every immigrant needs to master English to be a full participating citizen and to have full economic opportunity.

  Richard Lugar

  Opportunity, Needs, Citizens

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• I grew up in Venezuela, and when I was 14-years-old, my parents decided to sell everything and come to America. Five of us lived in a two bedroom house. It wasn't a sad truth, it was just the way it was [at the time]. That feeling is so universal for every immigrant.

  Wilmer Valderrama

  Years, Bedroom House, Two

  Source: www.thehollywoodgossip.com

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• When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best.

  Donald Trump

  Illegal Things, People, Mexican

  "Divided Mexico unites against Trump: 'He has no respect for human beings'" by Jo Tuckman, www.theguardian.com. July 6, 2015.

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• We focus so much on how immigrants can change America that we forget that America has always changed immigrants even more.

  Marco Rubio

  America, Focus, Forget

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• Each wave of immigrants that have come in have been able to assimilate, integrate and then rise up and become part of this great American Dream.

  Barack Obama

  Dream, Able, Wave

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• It is good to live in a country where all are immigrants ... the newcomer is simply the latest arrival.

  Rudolf Arnheim

  Country, Newcomers, Arrivals

  Rudolf Arnheim (1990). “Parables of Sun Light: Observations on Psychology, the Arts, and the Rest”, p.165, Univ of California Press

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• Immigrants, as troubling as they are to some people, are an integral part of what the American Dream is supposed to be. They're understandable to a considerable number of Americans.

  Nguyen Viet Thang

  Dream, Numbers, People

  "Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Viet Thanh Nguyen 'Never Stopped Being a Refugee'". Interview with Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn, www.motherjones.com. January/February 2017.

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• I think that America is an ideal place for the privileged homeless, who are used to different cultures. It's easiest and most accommodating because it is a country of exiles and immigrants and newcomers. There are no walls, in that sense. There is always the sense that traditions are being made as we speak. So you can slot yourself in. If you are living at a distance in society, this is one of the most congenial societies to live in.

  Pico Iyer

  Country, Wall, Distance

  Source: scottlondon.com

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