Native Land Quotes

“The steam trains crossed the country, the gleaming tracks clumsy sutures across wounded miles of stolen land.”
― Libba Bray, Lair of Dreams

“The land of Maren, my island,
calls to me in my fretful sleep.
Like dancing ribbons of light,
it winds its memories around
my starved, yearning torso,
tearing at my aching heart.

“I am twirling now,
unravelling a ribbon memory
of light, warm sand
and cresting waves around me.

“To feel at breath with my
unique, native land
and to retrace my footprints
across its terrains would be ...
heavenly.”
― Susan L. Marshall, All the Hope We Carry

“The native land begins with a nation -- an ethnic group, the group of inhabitants of the land. Only the love of humans who share the same social environment with you can lead to sincere patriotism -- the love of the native land. The love of land -- a material object -- is somehow idolatry, while the love of humans is humanism. Always practice sensitivity and empathy, and one day you will become a patriot, as well as a humanist.”
― Elmar Hussein

“I will die in Moscow, not seeing Ukraina. Before death, I will ask Stalin to extract my heart, just before I am burnt in the crematory, from my chest and bury it in my native land, in Kyiv, somewhere above the Dnipro on the mountain-hill. Fate, send happiness to people on this ruined and bloodstained land!
Disappear, hatred! Evanesce, poverty!”
― Олександр Довженко, Щоденникові записи, 1939-1956 / Дневниковые записи, 1939-1956

“When governments talk of truth and reconciliation, and then push unwanted infrastructure projects, please remember this: There can be no truth unless we admit to the 'why' behind centuries of abuse and land theft. And there can be no reconciliation when the crime is still in progress.

Only when we have the courage to tell the truth about our old stories will the new stories arrive to guide us. Stories that recognize that the natural world and all its inhabitants have limits. Stories that teach us how to care for each other and regenerate life within those limits. Stories that put an end to the myth of endlessness once and for all.”
― Naomi Klein, On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal