Expats Quotes

“People wonder why so many writers come to live in Paris. I’ve been living ten years in Paris and the answer seems simple to me: because it’s the best place to pick ideas. Just like Italy, Spain.. or Iran are the best places to pick saffron. If you want to pick opium poppies you go to Burma or South-East Asia. And if you want to pick novel ideas, you go to Paris.”
― Roman Payne, Crepuscule

“When you grow up in middle America you are inculcated from the earliest age with the belief - no, the understanding - that America is the richest and most powerful nation on earth because God likes us best. It has the most perfect form of government, the most exciting sporting events, the tastiest food and amplest portions, the largest cars, the cheapest gasoline, the most abundant natural resources, the most productive farms, the most devastating nuclear arsenal and the friendliest, most decent and most patriotic folks on Earth. Countries just don't come any better. So why anyone would want to live anywhere else is practically incomprehensible. In a foreigner it is puzzling; in a native it is seditious. I used to feel this way myself.”
― Bill Bryson

“...most seamen lead, if one may so express it, a sedentary life.
Their minds are of the stay-at-home order.... In the immutability of their surroundings, the foreign shores, the foreign faces, the changing immensity of life glide past, veiled not by a sense of mystery but by a slightly disdainful ignorance; ... a casual stroll or a casual spree on shore suffices to unfold for him the secret of a whole continent, and generally he finds the secret not worth knowing.”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

“The white façades of the villas and apartment houses were like blocks of time that had crystallised beside the road.”
― J.G. Ballard, Cocaine Nights

“The loneliness of the arab is a terrible thing; it is all consuming. It is already present like a little shadow under the heart when he lays his head on his mother's lap; it threatens to swallow him whole when he leaves his own country, even though he marries and travels and talks to friends twenty-four hours a day. That is the way Sirine suspects that Arabs feel everything - larger than life, feelings walking in the sky.”
― Diana Abu-Jaber, Crescent

“He was just one of those people ... one of a thousand expats who'd dragged their unhappiness to the other side of the world, expecting everything to be different, and never quite got over the fact it felt the same.”
― Jon Courtenay Grimwood, End of the World Blues

“We depend on this give-and-take when living abroad. You can’t exile yourself from your homeland and not always feel that tidal pull of return. Those minor details, the commercial jingles and pop songs, the chain restaurants and decade-defining shades of our blue jeans, are details you don’t even think about until you are face-to-face with a society that has very little to do with your own. Suddenly those one-hit wonders become a secret language, the very vestige of American culture.”
― Siobhan Fallon, The Confusion of Languages

“I recognised just how different Alexander was from children raised in Britain. The most obvious distinctions were his maturity and broadness of view. He hadn't lost his innocence or childish ability to play, but he enjoyed conversations with adults, and he saw no problem in playing with any child of any age. He was wonderfully gentle with the little ones. He was never fazed by differences, and cultural diversity was of interest rather than a reason for prejudice, though, - like our Nepali friends - he liked to classify people.”
― Jane Wilson-Howarth, A Glimpse of Eternal Snows: A Journey of Love and Loss in the Himalayas

“expatSure, people stare… I think it’s curiosity. Most of the time if I give a big smile, the person looks totally shocked to have been caught and will smile back. They go from a sort of blankness to this welling gladness. Women especially blossom into joy and will give really lovely, open smiles in return, with a ilhamdallah or masha’allah and a pat on the head or a pinched cheek for Mather, maybe a few words for me, Welcome to Jordan! They’re so surprised and grateful I’m smiling at them! Even women who are fully covered, just a tiny window for their eyes peeking from a veil. You can see the uplift in the corners of their eyelids, feel their genuine warmth.”
― Siobhan Fallon, The Confusion of Languages

“Who am I, in French? I really don't know -- a bit of everything, perhaps.”
― Nancy Huston, Losing North: Essays on Cultural Exile

“A fifty-year-old Santa Claus rang a loud tinsel-covered bell, slurring, "Merry Christmas!" hitching his stomach up, as hordes of cold-footed and guiltless pedestrians changed direction like a hunted sardine ball. Most of them, while wrapping scarves around their cold and annoyed faces, chose to brave the buskers and Big Issue sellers on the other side of the road, thus creating a bottleneck adjacent to the roadworks.”
― Mark Shearman, Zorro's Last Stand

“She borrowed the money and spent it," he said, defending his position.
"Yes because she—" He stopped her by holding his hand up.
"I don't want to know this stuff."
"Yes, because you know it’s wrong." Jessica's anger continued.
"We agree. All I do is focus on the fact that someone borrowed money. They received plenty of letters and phone calls asking them to pay up, and have had loads of time and opportunity to pay. You’ll be surprised by the type of people and how many borrow money with no intention of paying it back. Believe me the last thing they want is the neighbours, or their work colleagues knowing they are defaulting on a loan. If they pay up the lump sum they even get a discount so all's fair in—”
― Mark Shearman, Zorro's Last Stand

“Viele Mitarbeiter der Direktion reisten nur nach Hause, wenn es unvermeidbar war, einfach weil sie sich vor der Einsicht fürchteten, ihre alte Heimat verloren zu haben und dort, wo sie einmal zu Hause gewesen waren, nur noch Gast zu sein.”
― Lukas Bärfuss, Hundert Tage

“Catapultata in un paese straniero, a lungo considerato nemico, obbediente a regole a lei incomprensibili se prima non le venivano spiegate, mia nonna si era riservata uno spazio che apparteneva a lei sola - un'Isola dei Morti che lei visitava quotidianamente. Non c'era giorno in cui lei, senza farne parola, non raggiungesse con il pensiero tutti coloro che aveva perduto.”
― Minh Tran Huy, La Princesse et le Pêcheur

“Lei aveva lasciato il Vietnam, ma il Vietnam non aveva lasciato lei; quel paese le era rimasto dentro come un vaso di Pandora da cui non osava separarsi, pur sapendo che sarebbe stato straziante, e pericoloso, sollevarne il coperchio. Mono no aware, dicono i giapponesi per il indicare la malinconia delle cose”
― Minh Tran Huy, La Princesse et le Pêcheur

“Many expats I know love so-called Third World countries. Many do not mind settling and getting married there while the locals in those countries are escaping in all directions. The reason is simple: expats are treated better than local citizens in such countries, and even better than in their own so-called industrialized countries in the 'developed' world.”
― Louis Yako, Bullets in Envelopes: Iraqi Academics in Exile

“It was now hard to believe how difficult it had once been to follow a person in Bangkok in a time before smart phones and social media. The new generation demanded to be followed online. It was in their digital blood. A small investment in a few specialized apps, and not even Sherlock Holmes in his most inspired opium dreams could have imagined the possibilities.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Crackdown

“My grandfather said the sfumato described a psychological and spiritual transition between states of being. This transition was infinite and that’s why we, living in the finite, didn’t understand it. Some called it the Void. But that wasn’t sfumato. We chased the Smoky Dragon. We rode the dragon. We were the dragon. Finite time was our dance audition. Eternity was opening night.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Dance Me to the End of Time: Bangkok Noir

“Let me share what I’ve learned about Thai politics. Keep a distance from those doing a victory dance in the end zone unless you understand their game, how it’s scored and how many players each side has. If you can’t figure out the rules of the game, you won’t know when the game has started and when it’s over. Don’t put a bet on a game you don’t understand.”
― Christopher G. Moore, Crackdown

“Thais have a saying about a frog living inside a coconut shell. The frog believes that the world inside the shell is the whole universe. In the private investigation business, Vincent Calvino had clients who like the frog. What they saw from inside their shell blinded them, made them unable to solve a problem. So they hired Calvino. He knew the drill. Shells offered comfort and security. Leaving could be a dangerous business.”
― Christopher G. Moore, The Risk of Infidelity Index: A Vincent Calvino Crime Novel

“Philip lost count of the Pundaris who came and went from the flat that evening. His ears were filled with their easy chatter, and his nose with the overpowering aroma of the incense from the okaly tree, some of which he noticed was being rolled into strips of dried yellibellee leaves, then lit, and then passed from guest to guest with much pleasurable clucking and humming. When his turn came, his lungs filled with a rush of menthol and cinnamon, edged he thought with an aftertaste of fly spray.”
― Janet Olearski, A Traveller's Guide to Namisa: a novel

“It’s romantic: two expats in a car full of paintings making their way across an ancient city. One heartbroken, strike that, both in varying states of brokenheartedness. Aren’t we all?”
― Rick Pryll, La Chimère of Prague: Part II

“Our neighbor, Jokai Neni, had two sons who were both locomotive engineers. They were my heroes, and I always ran out to greet them when they came home with their oily, sooty faces.”
― John Czingula, From Utopia to The American Dream

“Like most young people in Ghana’s rural areas in those days, for much of my childhood I pictured America as a heavenly place where neither poverty nor any of the myriad problems we saw all around us existed. From what little history I was taught in elementary and middle school, I knew about slavery and how Blacks in America were treated during that era, but I also knew that slavery had long since been abolished. What I envisioned was an America in which people of all races lived happily and in perfect harmony.”
― Patrick Asare, The Boy from Boadua: One African’s Journey of Hunger and Sacrifice in Pursuit of a Dream

“Non sopportavo gran parte dei miei coetanei all’estero, una volta espatriati scoprivano di aver vissuto per venti o trent’anni in mezzo ai barbari. Non importa in che città fossero: Parigi, Barcellona, New York, Pechino, Osaka, e ovviamente la maledetta Berlino. Non importa che lavoro o che ragione profonda si nascondessero dietro la loro nuova vita. La terra natale era disseminata di ladri, burocrati, baciapile, raccomandati e mafiosi. Ma cosa avevano fatto loro per migliorarla? Erano andati via.
Questo pensavo all'epoca, ma chi resta ha le sue ragioni. Dopo tutti questi anni, lo riconosco. La vita mancata è sempre migliore di quella vissuta.”
― Mario Desiati, Spatriati

“Il mio periodo berlinese mi ha bollato per sempre ai loro occhi come «il tedesco», parola che pronunciano con aria sarcastica. So bene che per gran parte di loro sono uno che non ce l'ha fatta, che è dovuto tornare. Ma sono gli stessi che mi credevano fuggito, un emigrato avrà sempre addosso un sigillo di vigliaccheria.
«Tornato ma sempre spatriato», dicono, alludendo al fatto che non ho una moglie, un figlio, un lavoro certo, ma solo una valigia sempre pronta. Sono un disperso. Un interrotto, secondo la loro idea di mondo.”
― Mario Desiati, Spatriati

“You do not belong in a place until you have made a joke in the native tongue.”
― Andrei Codrescu, The Hole in the Flag: A Romanian Exile's Story of Return & Revolution

“RENAULT
I have often speculated on why you do not return to America. Did you abscond with the church funds? Did you run off with the President's wife? I should like to think you killed a man. It is the romantic in me.

RICK
It was a combination of all three.

RENAULT
And what in Heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?

RICK
My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.

RENAULT
Waters? What waters? We are in the desert.

RICK
I was misinformed.”
― Aljean Harmetz, Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca--Bogart, Bergman, and World War II

“Being an expat can complicate your feelings about being American. We tend to possess an assumed superiority that I only noticed when it was punctured. I was also jarred by the commercialism that could engulf anything in the United States. Everything from a McDonald's Happy Meal to a spider exhibit at New York's Museum of Natural History was a marketing opportunity for the latest Hollywood blockbuster. I was overwhelmed by the simple act of walking into a grocery store, blinking under the bright fluorescent lights, and staring at the massive, overstocked aisles.”
― Alan Paul, Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues, and Becoming a Star in Beijing

“But if I knew any of this back then, I didn't yet have the vocabulary for that knowledge. And perhaps because of that, without intending to do so, I had continued the pattern of some of the men, and most of the women, in my family, reaching s far back as we had memory. We were careless, and shiftless, and unthinking. We left our ancestral homes, we birthed and sometimes buried our children in far-flung places, and we started afresh over and over. We cared for land, but too often it wasn't our land to care for.”
― Alexandra Fuller, Leaving Before the Rains Come