Homeland Quotes

“كل يوم أكتشف في وطني مجداً جديداً
وعاراً جديداً
أخباراً ترفع الرأس
وأخرى ترفع الضغط”
― محمد الماغوط

“ثمة شيء ننساه في زحمة التسابق على حفظ الجُمل الثورية الجميلة. هذا الشيء هو الكرامة الإنسانية. ليس وطني دائماً على حق. ولكنني لا أستطيع أن أمارس حقاً حقيقياً إلا في وطني.”
― محمود درويش, يوميات الحزن العادي

“When we settle down in the homeland of love, let us not forget to choose an uplifting horizon, where humor and joyfulness are along the way, and our heartbeat guides the rhythm of our day and composes the song of our passion. ("Crystallization under an umbrella" )”
― Erik Pevernagie

“ليس وطني دائماً على حق. ولكنني لا استطيع ان امارس حقاً حقيقياً الا في وطني .”
― محمود درويش

“No fiction, no myths, no lies, no tangled webs - this is how Irie imagined her homeland. Because homeland is one of the magical fantasy words like unicorn and soul and infinity that have now passed into language.”
― Zadie Smith, White Teeth

“every man has a map in his heart of his own country and that the heart will never allow you to forget this map. (p. 18)”
― Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

“I wonder what it felt to move to a country where you didn't grow up. I had thought about that often since my sister got married. Do you become a character in a story native to that land, or do you, somewhere in your heart, want to return to your homeland.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, N.P

“اِختِلافُ النَهارِ وَاللَيلِ يُنسي اُذكُرا لِيَ الصِبا وَأَيّامَ أُنسي

وَصِفا لي مُلاوَةً مِن شَبابٍ صُوِّرَت مِن تَصَوُّراتٍ وَمَسِّ

عصفتْ كالصَّبا اللعوبِ ومرّت سِنة ً حُلوة ً، ولذَّة ُ خَلْس

وسلا مصرَ : هل سلا القلبُ عنها أَو أَسا جُرحَه الزمان المؤسّي؟

كلما مرّت الليالي عليه رقَّ ، والعهدُ في الليالي تقسِّي

مُستَطارٌ إذا البواخِرُ رنَّتْ أَولَ الليلِ، أَو عَوَتْ بعد جَرْس

راهبٌ في الضلوع للسفنِ فَطْن كلما ثُرْنَ شاعَهن بنَقسْ

يا ابنة َ اليمِّ ، ما أبوكِ بخيلٌ ما له مولع بمنع وحبس

أَحرامٌ عَلى بَلابِلِهِ الدَو حُ حَلالٌ لِلطَيرِ مِن كُلِّ جِنسِ

كُلُّ دارٍ أَحَقُّ بِالأَهلِ إِلّا في خَبيثٍ مِنَ المَذاهِبِ رِجسِ

نَفسي مِرجَلٌ وَقَلبي شِراعٌ بِهِما في الدُموعِ سيري وَأَرسي

وَاِجعَلي وَجهَكِ الفَنارَ وَمَجرا كِ يَدَ الثَغرِ بَينَ رَملٍ وَمَكسِ

وَطَني لَو شُغِلتُ بِالخُلدِ عَنهُ نازَعَتني إِلَيهِ في الخُلدِ نَفسي”
― أحمد شوقي

“Battle for the sake of honor may be a fine thing for bards to sing of, but it is no way to preserve one's homeland”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Chosen

“Travel opens windows to a rich and diverse world,
which you can never see from your homeland.”
― Mouloud Benzadi

“Where you are born--what you are born into, the place, the history of the place, how that history mates with your own-- stamps who you are, whatever the pundits of globalisation have to say.”
― Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

“For years I've been searching for a homeland, finally I found it in you..”
― Seja Majeed, The Forgotten Tale of Larsa

“ამის მადლი და სილამაზე არ დაგვიწყებოდეთ. ქვეყნის სიყვარულს საყველპუროდ და საარშიყოდ ნუ გაიხდით, სამშობლო როსკიპი ქალი არაა, მთვრალს რომ მოგენატრება და მაშინ გაიხსენებ, სამშობლო ტაძარია სალოცავი. მუხლზე დაჩოქილი უნდა იდგე მის საკურთხეველთან, ცალი ხელით პირჯვარს უნდა იწერდე, მეორეთი კი ხმალს იქნევდე, ეშმაკები რომ არ დაეპატრონონ... და კიდევ ერთი, შესაწირავის მიტანა ვერავინ უნდა მოგასწროს ამ ტაძართან.”
― Nodar Dumbadze, მარადისობის კანონი

“Never complete. Never whole.
White skin and an African soul.”
― Michelle Frost

“Як умру, то поховайте
Мене на могилі,
Серед степу широкого,
На Вкраїні милій,
Щоб лани широкополі,
І Дніпро, і кручі
Було видно, було чути,
Як реве ревучий.
Як понесе з України
У синєє море
Кров ворожу... отойді я
І лани, і гори —
Все покину і полину
До самого Бога
Молитися... а до того
Я не знаю Бога.
Поховайте та вставайте,
Кайдани порвіте
І вражою злою кров’ю
Волю окропіте.
І мене в сем’ї великій,
В сем’ї вольній, новій,
Не забудьте пом’янути
Незлим тихим словом.”
― Taras Shevchenko, Кобзар

“While America will always, I think, feel foreign to me, New York City is my home. This is where I can construct my own identity freely and reject labels imposed on me.”
― Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“The river of my village doesn’t make you think about anything.
When you’re at its bank you’re only at its bank.”
― Alberto Caeiro, The Keeper of Sheep

“For what is life but a succession of change; of one thing after another; painful beginnings, fearful setting out into the unknown, leaving what we are for what we have not yet become. We sail forth boldly, keeping a steady keel and a keen eye on the horizon, to reach islands, land whose fragrance we sniff at at the edge of our dreams; and so we sail on, hoping that the next landfall will be our own bit of earth.”
― Suchen Christine Lim, A Bit of Earth

“Know most of the rooms of thy native country before thou goest over the threshold thereof. Especially seeing England presents thee with so many observables.”
― W.G. Hoskins, The Making of the English Landscape

“Amiamo i mondi di fantasia perché il mondo in cui viviamo non ci soddisfa completamente. Troviamo conforto e rifugio nelle pagine di un fumetto, o nell’episodio di un telefilm epico, perché nella fantasia altrui troviamo ciò che la nostra realtà non ci ha ancora dato. Perché vorremmo di più dal mondo reale, e da noi stessi. Grazie a loro ci sentiamo diversi, migliori, forse più forti. Se Iron Man riesce a salvare il pianeta, allora anch’io potrò salvare gli alberghi di mio padre. Se Carrie Mathison riesce ad uccidere un terrorista, allora anche tu potrai fare un lavoro che non ti piace. Non c’è nulla di più immaturo, me ne rendo conto. Un uomo e una donna in età adulta che investono tempo e denaro in faccende da adolescenti. In molti la considerano una follia.”
― Alessia Esse, La tentazione di Laura

“There was a time when all I wanted was to come to England.
Now all I want is to go back to my homeland.”
― Mouloud Benzadi

“Nostalgia is not linked only with being away from one's homeland, as one may feel nostalgia , too, inside his own homeland.”
― Mohamed Adly, Coco De Mer - the Forbidden Fruit

“Thank you for your friendship and candor. Thank you for your love — for being my homeland through the long years of exile.”
― Ahmad Rafal Al Khalil, Baghdad from the Other Side

“The white man can live disembodied within an artificial universe without ties to a particular tract of land. We cannot. We are bound to our Indian country.”
― Mary Brave Bird, Ohitika Woman

“No gold, no silver, not a crown,
Yet every heart wore a king's gown...
We lived like kings without a crown,
Before the dust came settling down.”
― Sana Ullah Wazir, Not Paradise Lost — Paradise Taken

“[The Problem]
My problem, my friends,
is difficult,
so very difficult.
The problem is not merely
that I have no homeland,
no house,
no place
to shelter me.
The problem, my beloved ones,
is that I no longer want
a homeland,
a place,
or a home.
And I confess to you,
since we are speaking openly,
that even if I wished
to find a place
to shelter me,
such a wish
could never be fulfilled,
because I have been erased,
by force,
from every place.
Yes,
the wicked,
the thieves,
and those who worship the dollar
under the cloak of religion
erased me
and buried my history
wherever they could.
And wherever I go,
I find them
waiting for me,
closing in around me,
cutting off my breath,
stealing
the crust of bread
from my hand.
So I repeat:
my problem, my beloved ones,
is difficult,
so very difficult.
I have no home.
I no longer want
a home.
And I cannot find
a place to shelter me,
even if I were to wish for one
in my dreams.

June 1, 2017”
― Louis Yako, سرطان في كل مكان [Cancer Everywhere]

“[They Say My People Are Generous]

They say my people are generous.
Strangers and foreigners agree.
But ask my people
about my people,
and they will tell you
how many hypocrites
and flatterers
would sell
and burn
the entire homeland
for money.
Ask my people
about my people,
and they will tell you
how generous they were
to strangers
on the day those strangers
lit the fires
of war,
sectarianism,
and hatred.
Ask my people
about my people,
and they will tell you
how freely strangers move
through our country
and its riches,
while its own people,
deliberately impoverished
and exiled,
live either
with the humiliation of exile
or the humiliation
of home,
waiting for the first chance
to flee
with the first smuggler
who offers them passage
to the first
of the death boats.

13 January 2023”
― Louis Yako, سرطان في كل مكان [Cancer Everywhere]

“You were entrusting yourself to the homeland, and the homeland to yourself.”
― Mehmet Fatih Öztürk, 1974 FORTRESS

“Love of country is part of faith.”
― Mehmet Fatih Öztürk, PRECIPICE

“At that final moment,when you say I am cleansingthe homeland of viruses,it is nothing but self deception after cancer has already spread through the entirebody of the homeland.”
― Kamaran Ihsan Salih