155 Ethnic Quotes
Following is our list of ethnic quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about being ethnic.
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Famous Ethnic Quotes
Ethnicity should enrich us; it should make us a unique people in our diversity and not be used to divide us. — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
If you had to eat another human to survive, do you think they'd taste like their ethnic background? — Sayings
Ethnic life in the United States has become a sort of contest like baseball in which the blacks are always the Chicago Cubs. — Ishmael Reed
Ethnic minorities are not one homogeneous political group. — Rishi Sunak
Just because someone's a member of an ethnic minority doesn't mean they're not a nasty small-minded little jerk [...] — Terry Pratchett
Houston is kind of a melting pot. There are many different cultures and ethnicities represented out there. — J. J. Watt
We've got Chinese, white, black and mixed; but remember that our colors are cheap, for after many years of contracts and tricks nobody's purity runs very deep. — Nicolas Guillen
It's not even about black and white anymore, because so many people are from mixed backgrounds and mixed ethnicities, and it's just a great time to be able to pull all that together. — George Lopez
Do not ghettoize society by putting people into legal categories of gender, race, ethnicity, language, or other such characteristics. — Preston Manning
People are born without choosing their father and that’s why we have so many different ethnicities in the world! — Romanian Proverbs
America is White and Black and Latino and Asian. America is mixed. America is immigrants. — Jose Antonio Vargas
We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race. — Kofi Annan
The behavior of an individual is determined not by his racial affiliation, but by the character of his ancestry and his cultural environment. — Franz Boas
L.K.A. bruh. Low key Asians. That's a thing. — Theo Von
We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community - and this nation. — Cesar Chavez
Short Ethnic Quotes
- Macedonia's handling of ethnic relations and other issues is encouraging. — Emma Bonino
- We do not wish and do not need to expel Arabs and take their places. — David Ben-Gurion
- She viewed ethnic cleansing, famine and genocide as direct threats to her furniture. — Arundhati Roy
- By genocide we mean the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group. — Raphael Lemkin
- American Idol transcends age, gender, ethnicity, everything. — Carrie Underwood
- Writers can write outside their ethnicity or sex depending how open and vulnerable they wish to be. — Jim Harrison
- There is not racial or ethnic domination of hopelessness. It's everywhere. — Sidney Poitier
- Sometimes my ethnicity is relevant, other times not. I definitely get the best of both worlds. — Archie Panjabi
- As an Italian-American, I have a special responsibility to be sensitive to ethnic stereotypes. — Al D'Amato
- Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can. — Arthur Ashe
Work Ethic Quotes
Live by the creed that a strong work ethic, playing by the rules, and doing things the right way will bring about opportunities for success and, ultimately, happiness. — Nick Saban
Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement. — Alfred Adler
I never feared about my skills because I put in the work. Work ethic eliminates fear. — Michael Jordan
I heard Russell Simmons say that, 'people have million dollar dreams with a minimum wage work ethic.' Basically, everybody wanna be rich but don't nobody wanna work for it. — Yo Gotti
Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers. — Magic Johnson
For me the starting point for everything - before strategy, tactics, theories, managing, organizing, philosophy, methodology, talent, or experience - is work ethic. Without one of significant magnitude, you're dead in the water. — Bill Walsh
People have lost their faith that if they work hard, if they try to get ahead, if they play by the rules, then that will ultimately result in positive outcomes. — James David Vance
I have six jobs. — Jared Kushner
And the next morning at whatever time he’d decided, he’d awaken to find me standing outside his door. No matter what had happened the night before – good game, bad game, soreness, fatigue – he was up working out every morning while most of the other guys slept. — Tim Grover
From my parents, I learned a very strong work ethic, and all of my brothers and sisters all worked from the earliest days of life right through to the present time. — George J. Mitchell
Being Ethnic Quotes
No one should ever be locked away simply because they share the same race, ethnicity, or religion as a spy or terrorist. If that principle was not learned from the internment of Japanese Americans, then these are very dangerous times for our democracy. — Fred Korematsu
Capitalism knows only one color: that color is green; all else is necessarily subservient to it, hence, race, gender and ethnicity cannot be considered within it. — Thomas Sowell
One of the hallmarks of the American justice system is that it should be blind to individuals' idiosyncratic descriptors, including biological sex, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or physical attributes. — Gad Saad
All human beings bear God's image and must be respected for what each person is. Therefore, no external description of one's being, whether based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, can properly be used as the basis for either rejection or discrimination. — John Shelby Spong
We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population?' Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out! — Yitzhak Rabin
I just didn’t want to be pigeonholed as an 'ethnic comic' or an 'Asian comic.' I just wanted to be on the same playing field as everyone else. — Aziz Ansari
True peace must be anchored in justice and an unwavering commitment to universal rights for all humans, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, national origin or any other identity attribute. — Desmond Tutu
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
The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion or ethnic background, is that we all believe we are above-average drivers. — Dave Barry
Regardless of religion or race or ethnic background we are all human and we are all on this planet together. So what better reason do you need to not tolerate any form of violence against another human being? — Tony Bennett
Ethnic Groups Quotes
This country, the Republic of Indonesia, does not belong to any group, nor to any religion, nor to any ethnic group, nor to any group with customs and traditions, but the property of all of us from Sabang to Merauke! — Sukarno
We libertarians are not the spokesmen for any ethnic or economic class; we are the spokesmen for all classes, for all of the public; we strive to see all of these groups united, hand-in-hand, in opposition to the plundering and privileged minority that constitutes the rulers of the State. — Murray Rothbard
The island is in Kenya, the water is in Uganda... But the [Luos, a Kenyan ethnic group] are mad, they want to fish here but this is Uganda. — Yoweri Museveni
Independence is not a whim or an ambition. It is the necessary condition of our survival as an ethnic group. — Aslan Maskhadov
Low-income people, racial or ethnic minorities, pregnant women, seniors, people with special needs, people in rural areas - they all have a much harder time accessing a dentist than other groups of Americans. — Bernie Sanders
The European organisation contemplated could not oppose any ethnic group, on other continents or in Europe itself, outside of the League of Nations, any more than it could oppose the League of Nations. — Aristide Briand
During the long process of history, by relying on our own diligence, courage and wisdom, Chinese people have opened up a good and beautiful home where all ethnic groups live in harmony and fostered an excellent culture that never fades. — Xi Jinping
Racism is the dogma that one ethnic group is condemned by nature to congenital inferiority and another group is destined to congenital superiority. — Ruth Benedict
Following the Second World War, we are a country of one ethnicity. After the moving of the borders, after the tragedy of the Holocaust and the murder of Polish Jews, we don't have large minority groups. — Aleksander Kwasniewski
I want to state upfront, unequivocally and without doubt: I do not believe that any racial, ethnic or gender group has an advantage in sound judging. I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge, regardless of their background or life experiences. — Sonia Sotomayor
Ethnic Background Quotes
I do believe that one way to bring cultures together, to develop trust between people and countries and religions, is through education. And through music and art and basketball and activities and joys that people share worldwide, regardless of ethnic background or religious orientation. — Steve Kerr
In the United Kingdom, we need to promote an inclusive British identity that involves and empowers people from all ethnic and faith backgrounds. — Maajid Nawaz
No matter what race we are, what ethnic background, sexual orientation, or what views we may have, we are all human. Unfortunately, not all humans see it that way. — Erin Gruwell
What everyone in the astronaut corps shares in common is not gender or ethnic background, but motivation, perseverance, and desire - the desire to participate in a voyage of discovery. — Ellen Ochoa
I would rather have a candidate that`s cohesive in bringing people together from different ethnic backgrounds but around the same policy than I would a politician that jumps and stumps in different rooms and has a different story every time. — Killer Mike
In a lot of films, they're showing more complete, developed characters of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The larger concern is to be able to tastefully explore the stereotypes, and still move past them to see the core of people. — Forest Whitaker
The great virtue of a free market is that it enables people who hate each other, or who are from vastly different religious or ethnic backgrounds, to cooperate economically. Government intervention can't do that. — Milton Friedman
Head Start is designed to ensure that all children - regardless of their family's income, race, or ethnic background - are able to enter kindergarten ready to learn. — Lucille Roybal-Allard
I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge regardless of their background or life experiences. — Sonia Sotomayor
When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account. — Samuel Alito
Ethnic Diversity Quotes
What is crucial is the provision of opportunities for telling all the diverse stories, for interpreting membership as well as ethnicity, for making inescapable the braids of experience woven into the fabric of America's plurality. — Maxine Greene
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
Despite the ethnic diversity within each nation, the social fabric of the region by and large is one. — Bashar al-Assad
I think we should appreciate ethnicity and diversity, and appreciate the uniqueness of all people, but I don't think we should be ethnocentric. These things are not ultimate. — LeCrae
Jesus' epic work through his sinless life, atoning death, resurrection, and ascension, and the sending of the Spirit, was so that God could have an ethnically diverse family of Jews and Gentiles. — Derwin L. Gray
It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not. — Nelson Mandela
Everyone should be proud of who they are and where they come from because America is a big melting pot of diverse ethnicities. It's great to be part of this wonderful country. — Rima Fakih
Mostly I enjoy the restaurants (my husband is a chef), though I wish we had a wider diversity of ethnic food. — Poppy Z. Brite
It is very curious that the United States and Canada both assume that diversity means only race and ethnicity. They never assume it might mean more Nazis, or more Southern Baptists. That's diversity too, you know. — Richard Rodriguez
I coach church planters to look at the ethnic diversity of schools and neighborhoods they are near. This will be an indicator how ethnically diverse their congregation can become. — Derwin L. Gray
Ethnic Identity Quotes
As a result of the awareness and consciousness of decline, an awareness and consciousness of a national ethnicity or an Islamic identity also came into being. — Abdolkarim Soroush
I do believe, separate and apart from any particular election or movement, that we are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an us and a them. — Barack Obama
It is important to remember that the Pacific Ocean covers a quarter of the world's surface and that each Pacific country has its own cultural, historical and ethnic identity. — Jenny Shipley
Your ethnic or sexual identity, what region of the country you're from, what your class is - those aspects of your identity are not the same as your aesthetic identity. — Stanley Crouch
The oppression of women knows no ethnic nor racial boundaries, true, but that does not mean it is identical within those boundaries. — Audre Lorde
My potential is more than can be expressed within the bounds of my race or ethnic identity. — Arthur Ashe
A man's ethnic identity has more to do with a personal awareness than with geography. — William Saroyan
I think globalization actually maintains and fosters various elements of national and cultural identities. I don't think everything is being homogenized. If anything, your food, your culture, and your ethnicity might become part of the globalized world, and thus absorbed by other countries. — Nouriel Roubini
I look white to a lot of people. And I'm not. I'm African-American. I'm mixed. I like to call myself Mulatto because that definition fits. So, you know, I've dealt with the conflict my whole life between how I look and my actual ethnic and racial identity. — Mat Johnson
Maybe we've been brainwashed by 130 years of Yankee history, but Southern identity now has more to do with food, accents, manners, music than the Confederate past. It's something that's open to both races, a variety of ethnic groups and people who move here. — John Shelton Reed
Going Ethnic Quotes
Every American deserves to live in freedom, to have his or her privacy respected and a chance to go as far as their ability and effort will take them - regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or economic circumstances. — Christopher Dodd
Let's not forget what the origin of the problem is. There is no place in modern Europe for ethnically pure states. That's a 19th century idea and we are trying to transition into the 21st century, and we are going to do it with multi-ethnic states. — Wesley Clark
Whatever your ethnicity is, in this life you are going to be on a journey to discover who you are and how you feel about yourself. — Sayings
Food is everything we are. It's an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It's inseparable from those from the get-go. — Anthony Bourdain
Hip-hop in a lot of ways is like sports; when you go to a sports game, you see people from all ages, all ethnicities, all social classes, they're all there enjoying the game. Hip-hop has been one of the only forms of music that has provided that kind of atmosphere. — LeCrae
I am not going to use the federal government's authority deliberately to circumvent the natural inclination of people to live in ethnic homogeneous neighborhoods. — Jimmy Carter
Ethnically, the Germans are Teutonic... being made up of Vandals, Gepidae, and Goths, all of whom emigrated - south from Sweden in about 500 BC; why they emigrated is not exactly clear, but many scholars believe it was because they saw the way Sweden was going, i.e. neutral. — Alan Coren
A great power has to have the discipline not only to go when necessary but to know when not to go. Getting involved in ethnic, religious civil wars is a recipe for disaster. — John Kasich
People always think of Chinese food as the go-to ethnic food when everything else is closed during the holidays, but Indian is a nice alternative. Plus - Indians? Thanksgiving? Kinda makes sense. — Erin Gibson
I was friends with all different people and all different groups. And that led me to being friends with a few people who didnt even go to my school. Now I have the most amazing collection of friends of all ethnic backgrounds and upbringing and financial backgrounds. — James Maslow
Ethnic Stereotypes Quotes
As an ambiguously non-white actor, I've been able to play light-skinned African American guys, Latinos, and I don't think that I've ever had to play some kind of ethnic stereotype or something that was typed specifically for a person of color. — Daniel Sunjata
Most students of literature can pick apart a metaphor or spot an ethnic stereotype, but not many of them can say things like: 'The poem's sardonic tone is curiously at odds with its plodding syntax. — Terry Eagleton
I want to steer away from the stereotypes that Latina women are categorized in. I feel like there are so many more opportunities for us. I like going out for those roles that says open ethnicity. — Emily Rios
America is the land of opportunity, and people can live in America and be who they want to be. Don't deny your faith. Don't deny your ethnicity. Don't stereotype Muslim women, because as you can see with me, or in Lebanon, for example, beauty is appreciated. — Rima Fakih
Ethnic stereotypes are misshapen pearls, sometimes with a sandy grain of truth at their center. ... but they ignore complexity, change, and individuality. — Anna Quindlen
Race And Ethnicity Quotes
The attacks in Jordan, just like those before it in Indonesia, Egypt, Spain and the United States, demonstrate that terrorism does not discriminate by race, ethnicity or region. Instead, terrorists indiscriminately target those seeking to live a peaceful, loving and free life. — Allyson Schwartz
There is an argument that COVID-19 is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese. — Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Freedom is partial to no race. Freedom has no religion. Freedom favors no ethnicity. Freedom discriminates not between rich and poor countries. Inevitably freedom will overwhelm Ethiopia. — Eskinder Nega
True equality means holding everyone accountable in the same way, regardless of race, gender, faith, ethnicity - or political ideology. — Monica Crowley
We are special because we've been united not by a common race or ethnicity. We're bound together by common values. That family is the most important institution in society. That almighty God is the source of all we have. — Marco Rubio
All too often we think of community in terms of being with folks like ourselves: the same class, same race, same ethnicity, same social standing and the like..I think we need to be wary: we need to work against the danger of evoking something that we don’t challenge ourselves to actually practice. — Bell Hooks
The bloodline of Jesus is thicker, deeper, stronger than the bloodline of race, ethnicity and family. — John Piper
The Klan sees the world in terms of race and ethnicity. So do Liberals — Ann Coulter
Everyone, especially minorities of race and ethnicity, now live under a surveillance panoptican. — Henry Giroux
Distinctly American poetry is usually written in the context of one's geographic landscape, sometimes out of one's cultural myths, and often with reference to gender and race or ethnic origins. — Diane Wakoski
People Writing About Ethnic
More Ethnic Quotes
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. — Richard Dawkins
If you stick a knife nine inches into my back and pull it out three inches, that is not progress. Even if you pull it all the way out, that is not progress. Progress is healing the wound, and America hasn't even begun to pull out the knife. — Malcolm X
The majority of Western culture came out of Europe, which is not comparable to America. It came out of nation states based on geographical and ethnic foundations. America is based on principles, a very different kind of country. — Milo Yiannopoulos
No other country in the world imprisons so many of its racial or ethnic minorities. The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid — Michelle Alexander
I am the leader of one country which has two alphabets, three languages, four religions, five nationalities, six republics, surrounded by seven neighbours, a country in which live eight ethnic minorities. — Josip Broz Tito
The essence of America - that which really unites us - is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion - it is an idea - and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things. — Condoleezza Rice
We need to promote greater tolerance and understanding among the peoples of the world. Nothing can be more dangerous to our efforts to build peace and development than a world divided along religious, ethnic or cultural lines. In each nation, and among all nations, we must work to promote unity based on our shared humanity. — Kofi Annan
Only 4 sets of people can vote for the PDP: (1) those who are intellectually blind; (2) those who are blinded by ethnicity; (3) those who are blinded by corruption and therefore afraid of the unknown, should power change hands; and finally (4) those who are suffering from a combination of the above terminal sicknesses. — Wole Soyinka
We must never remain silent in the face of bigotry. We must condemn those who seek to divide us. In all quarters and at all times, we must teach tolerance and denounce racism, anti-Semitism and all ethnic or religious bigotry wherever they exist as unacceptable evils. We have no place for haters in America -- none, whatsoever. — Ronald Reagan
We are all connected. What unites us is our common humanity. I don't want to oversimplify things - but the suffering of a mother who has lost her child is not dependent on her nationality, ethnicity or religion. White, black, rich, poor, Christian, Muslim or Jew - pain is pain - joy is joy. — Desmond Tutu
Race, Religion, Ethnic Pride, Nationalism does nothing but teach you how to hate people you have never met — Doug Stanhope
The people are divided into more than 200 ethnic groups, of which the largest is the Bantu. There are several hundred languages, but the widespread use of French bridges that gap to a degree. King Leopold of Belgium used it as his personal property from which to steal its natural resources to line his pockets. Belgian colonial rule made the British and French versions look positively benign and was ruthlessly brutal from start to finish, with few attempts to build any sort of infrastructure to help the inhabitants. When the Belgians left in 1960 they left behind little chance of the country holding together. The civil wars began immediately. — Tim Marshall
Our responsibility is to rally and lead the whole party and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, take up this historic baton and continue working hard for the great renewal of the Chinese nation so that we will stand rock firm in the family of nations and make fresh and greater contributions to mankind. — Xi Jinping
This not a war. This is a systematic massacre of civilians with destruction of a densely populated area to make it uninhabitable; by cowards hiding behind technology. This is ethnic cleansing. A war is human fighting human. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Today, the Muslim world is injured and corrupt. People who are the enemies of all Muslims are trying to cause disunity in the Islamic world by intensifying ethnic difference and separating people under names such as 'Shia and Sunni', 'Arabs and non-Arabs'. — Ali Khamenei
After Zorro, people spoke Spanish to me for ages. I'm Welsh but that movie instantly gave me a new ethnicity. — Catherine Zeta-Jones
In practice it is possible to determine directly the skin colour and hence the ethnic affiliations of the ancient Egyptians by microscopic analysis in the laboratory; I doubt if the sagacity of the researchers who have studied the question has overlooked the possibility. — Cheikh Anta Diop
I don’t want to make an incremental change in some technology in my life. I want to create a whole new technology, and one that is aimed at helping humanity at all levels regardless of geography or ethnicity or age or gender. — Elizabeth Holmes
There is no such thing as a Palestinian people... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist. — Golda Meir
Iraq is a prime example of the ensuing conflicts and chaos from the arbitrary borders. The more religious among the Shia never accepted that a Sunni-led government should have control over their holy cities. These communal feelings go back centuries; a few decades of being called 'Iraqis' was never going to dilute such emotions. — Tim Marshall
The Ottoman Empire, Persians, Alexander the Great, and the Umayyad dynasty all divided Iraq into three administrative regions based on religion and ethnicity. The British looked at the same area and combined the three into one, resulting in a mess. — Tim Marshall
Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial. — Ariel Sharon
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