Cultural Quotes

“He could not understand how a person born in the United States who knew the English language and culture and was educated with at least a high school degree failed to provide for his own subsistence without government assistance.”
― Rafael Polo, Growing Up American

“I imagined myself a bird, looking down on our city, the Grand Canal like a snake slithering through stone, the city on either side like two hands clasped in prayer”
― Gina Buonaguro, The Virgins of Venice

“I think I screamed. She certainly did. I started to walk away, she followed. We continued to scream at each other. We were in the middle of a busy square. People stopped to look at us. A lot of people. I wonder now what they thought. That Jin-Ae was my wife? My lover? Surely not an ambitious employee haranguing her boss!”
― Oliver Dowson

“What matters isn't what people say but what you like and find joy in. I hope you focus less on how you look to other people and more on fulfilling your true desires.”
― Baek Se-hee, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki

“Fear increases when it's something that you keep to yourself. Instead of suffering alone, it can often be good to share it with someone else.”
― Baek Se-hee, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki

“Era così: se eravamo insieme, non c'era critica che ci toccasse davvero, anzi diventavamo superbi, nient'altro aveva senso se non le nostre opinioni. Correvamo a cena, al cibo buono, al vino, al sesso. Volevamo soltanto afferrarci e stringerci.”
― Elena Ferrante, The Story of the Lost Child

“Today I've prepared roasted quail spiced with sumac, coriander, and chili, atop sweet corn cachapas, which, as you see, are griddle cakes made from corn. I've also battered and fried fresh courgette blossoms stuffed with farmer's cheese." Elijah swallowed again. It was a deceptively simple dish. The cachapas were perhaps the least complicated, and possibly something royalty might find rather humble, but his uncle Jonathan had gotten the recipe on a voyage that had put in at a port in Venezuela long ago, and Elijah had perfected it over the years whenever he could get enough sweet corn.
Princess Adelaide eyed the dish, as though surprised it didn't look more elaborate. She looked up at him with a quizzical expression.
He kept his gaze steady. He'd always thought that food was a great equalizer, for whatever someone's creed or race or religion, every person had to eat to survive. This exhibition seemed to confirm his belief. The Royal Exhibition was showcasing the different cultures and cuisines of over thirty countries, and from what Elijah had seen, everyone was welcome, no matter where they hailed from in the world. Elijah's first instinct had been to make something from his food culture, something that would subtly---or perhaps, not so subtly---say, I'm Jewish and there shouldn't be anything wrong with that.”
― Jennieke Cohen, My Fine Fellow

“It was also revealed that the reason I am cruel to others is because I have low-self-esteem. Because I don’t love myself, I am unable to understand those who do love me in spite of it all, and so I test them. “You love me even when I do this? Or this? Or this?” Even when the other person forgives me, I am unable to understand their forgiveness, and when they give up on me, I torture and console myself with the “fact” that no one could ever love me. That goddamn self-esteem. [...] Looking more closely at myself, there are parts that I've improved on. I still remain someone who is unable to love herself. But as I had that thought, I had another: light and darkness are part of the same thing. Happiness and unhappiness alternate throughout life, as in a dance. So as long as I keep going and don’t give up, surely I will keep having moments of tears and laughter.

This book, therefore, ends not with answers but with a wish. I want to love and be loved. I want to find a way where I don’t hurt myself. I want to live a life where I say things are good more than things are bad. I want to keep failing and discovering new and better directions. I want to enjoy the tides of feeling in me as the rhythms of life. I want to be the kind of person who can walk inside the vast darkness and find the one fragment of sunlight I can linger in for a long time.
Some day, I will.”
― Baek Se-hee, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki

“Molti avrebbero considerato una benedizione la capacità di scordarsi delle cose brutte. Ma l'ipnotista riteneva che gli eventi che ci capitano - anche i peggiori - contribuisca a renderci ciò che siamo. Sono parte di noi, anche se facciamo di tutto per dimenticarli.”
― Donato Carrisi, La casa delle voci

“«Non riesco a credere che ci sposeremo il giorno del mio compleanno!» Dice lei.
«Così non mi dimenticherai mai.»
«E chi potrebbe dimenticarti, Alexander?» Chiede, cercandolo dolcemente con la mano.”
― Paullina Simons, Tatiana and Alexander

“Se arriva il dolore, arriva anche la felicità.”
― Rupi Kaur, milk and honey

“Alexander non aveva dubbi: qualunque fosse la sua vita, Tatiana non lo aveva dimenticato.”
― Paullina Simons, Tatiana and Alexander

“Dopo Coconut Grove scoprirono finalmente cosa preferivano, quello di cui avevano più bisogno: semplicemente di loro tre, in una trinità malconcia ma intatta.”
― Paullina Simons, The Summer Garden

“Non so che fare, resto a guardarti e ad amarti da solo.
Restare a guardarti e ad amarti, anche se da solo, è sempre una buona decisione.”
― Pedro Chagas Freitas, Prometo Falhar

“Attraversiamo la vita, amore, esitando tra respirare e non respirare. E scegliamo sempre la terza possibilità. Perché ci sono due strade per essere vivi. Ma è sulla terza che si trova la vita.”
― Pedro Chagas Freitas, Prometo Falhar

“Era imperdonabile che l'amasse così tanto.
Un giorno le chiese di smettere d'essere così perfetta, e lei con tutta la sua perfezione rispose di sì, fece una brutta faccia e lui disse "bella". Poi si spogliò, il corpo intero, tutti i difetti. Gli fece notare le smagliature dietro le gambe, una cicatrice al centro della pancia, lo implorò di guardare attentamente. Lui quando capì stava già piangendo, gli occhi e la perversa constatazione che può essere ammirevole perfino quello che l'estetica ritiene riprovevole. L'amore è cieco ma ci apre sempre gli occhi.”
― Pedro Chagas Freitas, Prometo Falhar

“Ho attraversato il mondo intero ma non ho mai visto una regione più bella del litorale delle tue spalle.”
― Pedro Chagas Freitas, Prometo Falhar

“La morte è dietro il tuo bacio,
e non mi interessa nulla di ciò che non può uccidermi.”
― Pedro Chagas Freitas, Prometo Falhar

“E così fu. Tutti i giorni, nel tardo pomeriggio, un furgone della casa editrice si fermava davanti alla loro porta e lasciava lì quattro libri, a volte di più, e così trascorrevano le serate, lei a leggere e lui a vederla leggere, tutto il mondo e tutto lo sforzo acquistavano senso per sempre.”
― Pedro Chagas Freitas, Prometo Falhar

“L'amore può anche essere soltanto qualcuno che ci chiede di lasciarci proteggere, e ci protegge davvero.”
― Pedro Chagas Freitas, Prometo Falhar

“Mi hai chiesto di scriverti qualcosa di felice e io mi sono ricordato di noi, conosci una felicità più grande di questa?”
― Pedro Chagas Freitas, Prometo Falhar

“Passo ore a sentirmi
indistruttibile, a esser certo che nulla mi
tocchi, che nulla potrà ferirmi abbastanza da
farmi indietreggiare, e poi arrivi tu.”
― Pedro Chagas Freitas, Prometo Falhar

“Non c'era bisogno di chiedere perché fosse là. Lo sapeva così sicuramente come s'egli avesse detto che si trovava là perché voleva essere dov'era lei.”
― Lev Tolstoj, Anna Karenina

“One culture invents clay tablets.
Others- ink, scrolls, papyrus, print...
But somehow, all the classics are written by another.”
― Puchkov Dmitriy (Goblin)

“There was butternut squash soup from Providence, crispy rice and sour-pork salad from Lum Ka Naad, prawns with black vinegar dressing from Kato, Wagyu beef prepared by n/naka, crispy fried chicken from Dulan's, duck tartare from Animal, barrio tacos from Teddy's and miniconchas from La Favorita Bakery that were so small and delicate that it was hard to just eat one... or six.”
― Erin La Rosa, For Butter or Worse

“Molti avrebbero considerato una benedizione la capacità di scordarsi delle cose brutte. Ma l'ipnotista riteneva che gli eventi che ci capitano - anche i peggiori - contribuiscano a renderci ciò che siamo. Sono parte di noi, anche se facciamo di tutto per dimenticarli.”
― Donato Carrisi, La casa delle voci

“Not just being proud of Cultural Heritage, a leader carries it.”
― Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma, Modified Leadership

“States rise, states fall, but cultures are everlasting.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World

“As per your request, all the chocolate we have on offer."
There were pandan cheesecake brownies, red bean brownies, ube chocolate chip cookies, ube Oreo mochi Rice Krispie treats, brown butter chai chocolate chip cookies, Mexican hot chocolate cookies, and a champorado parfait, the last of which was still in the experimental phase. I didn't usually make so many chocolate offerings in one day, but I guess subconsciously I felt the need for chocolaty comfort as much as Marcus did.”
― Mia P. Manansala, Murder and Mamon

“What looks to Westerners like Asian deference, in other words, is actually a deeply felt concern for the sensibilities of others. As the psychologist Harris Bond observes, “It is only those from an explicit tradition who would label [the Asian] mode of discourse ‘selfeffacement.’ Within this indirect tradition it might be labeled ‘relationship honouring.’ ” And relationship honoring leads to social dynamics that can seem remarkable from a Western perspective. It’s because of relationship honoring, for example, that social anxiety disorder in Japan, known as taijin kyofusho, takes the form not of excessive worry about embarrassing oneself, as it does in the United States, but of embarrassing others.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking