Quotes from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America

Ronald Takaki ·  508 pages

Rating: (3.2K votes)


“I believe our education system as a whole has not integrated the histories of all people into our education system, just the Eurocentric view of itself, and the White-centered view of African Americans, and even this is slim to nonexistent. What I find is that most people don't know the fact they don't know, because of the complete lack of information.”
― Ronald Takaki, quote from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America


“the study of diversity is essential for understanding how and why America became what Walt Whitman called a “teeming nation of nations.”
― Ronald Takaki, quote from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America


“Jefferson exploded with guilt: “The torment of mind, I will endure till the moment shall arrive when I shall not owe a shilling on earth is such really as to render life of little value.”
― Ronald Takaki, quote from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America


“      The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal. This quality is the germ of all education in him. From his cradle to his grave he is learning to do what he sees others do. If a parent could find no motive either in his philanthropy or his self-love, for restraining the intemperance of passion toward his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his child is present. But generally it is not sufficient. The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to his worst of passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The man must be a prodigy who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances.”
― Ronald Takaki, quote from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America


“What I find is that most people don’t know the fact that they don’t know, because of the complete lack of information.”4”
― Ronald Takaki, quote from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America



“War is our only recourse. There is no other remedy.”
― Ronald Takaki, quote from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America


“War exists notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it.”8”
― Ronald Takaki, quote from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America


“In 1852, of the 11,794 Chinese in California, only seven were women.”
― Ronald Takaki, quote from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America


About the author

Ronald Takaki
Born place: in Oahu, Hawaii, The United States
Born date April 12, 1939
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Truth, I have learned, differs for everybody. Just as no two people ever see a rainbow in exactly the same place - and yet both most certainly see it, while the person seemingly standing right underneath it does not see it at all - so truth is a question of where one stands, and the direction one is looking in at the time.”
― Iain M. Banks, quote from Inversions


“If you were dying...
If you were sixteen and dying...
If your blood was spilling out of you, calling to them, the creatures of the night, and you knew you were dying...
If you saw their pale faces and the gleam of sharp teeth in the moonlight, and you felt your blood spilling warmly over your hands, and you knew beyond any doubt that you were dying...
Wouldn’t you say yes?
Yes, turn me.
Yes, I want to live.
Yes... make me one of you.”
― quote from Never Bite a Boy on the First Date


“Neither blindness nor ignorance corrupts people and governments. They soon realize where the path they have taken is leading them. But there is an impulse within them, favored by their natures and reinforced by their habits, which they do not resist; it continues to propel them forward as long as they have a remnant of strength. He who overcomes himself is divine. Most see their ruin before their eyes; but they go on into it.1 Leopold von Ranke”
― Joachim Fest, quote from Hitler


“If you are in love with two people, choose the second one, because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn’t have fallen for the second.”
― K.M. Golland, quote from Temptation


“You don't have to be anyone but yourself.”
― Marni Bates, quote from Awkward


Interesting books

Lichgates
(2.7K)
Lichgates
by S.M. Boyce
Love May Fail
(4.9K)
Love May Fail
by Matthew Quick
Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life
(2.1K)
The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life: Volume 1
(1.7K)
The Ancient Secret o...
by Drunvalo Melchizedek
More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory
(1.4K)
More Than Two: A Pra...
by Franklin Veaux
The Seven Songs of Merlin
(9K)
The Seven Songs of M...
by T.A. Barron

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.