Buruma Quotes & Sayings

*boy gets down on one knee* *proposes* stand up and say it to my fucking face you punk — Unknown

Most of the people are no thicker than Formica, yet they hunger obscurely for some continuity with the place and with each other. — Ron Loewinsohn

Don't consider sarcasm the 'be-all' and 'end-all' of verbal intercourse. Far too many people place way too much importance on the sarcasm instead of the talking, in and of itself, as a precious shared experience between people. — Adam Rifkin

Sometimes I draw with my left hand and I am pretty terrible. The drawings end up just looking like shakier/inconsistent (worse) versions of my right hand drawings. Sometimes I like drawing with my eyes closed. — Jason Polan

We would do well to ask ourselves the kind of fundamental questions posed by [Buruma's] erudite and thought-provoking book. — Jonathan Sumption

Isherwood did not so much find himself in Berlin as reinvent himself; Isherwood became a fiction, a work of art. — Ian Buruma

The question, then, for Western companies, as much as for Western governments, is to decide whose side they are on: the Chinese officials who like to define their culture in a paternalistic, authoritarian way, or the large number of Chinese who have their own ideas about freedom. — Ian Buruma

Citizenship of a democratic state means living by the laws of the country. A liberal democracy cannot survive when part of the population believes that divine laws trump those made by man. — Ian Buruma

Anti-Americanism may indeed have grown fiercer than it was during the cold war. It is a common phenomenon that when the angels fail to deliver, the demons become more fearsome. — Ian Buruma

Doubt ... impels a search for the truth. It opens the door to knowledge. Faith puts a lock on the door. Indeed, ... faith anesthetizes the desire to seek knowledge and truth. — Vincent Bugliosi

To isolate the revolutionary ideologues and their killers we must gain the trust of the majority of Muslims, this can only happen if they are treated as equal citizens, not just in theory, and have access to decent education and jobs. — Ian Buruma

When I was younger, I wanted to be a cop. Then I watched 'The Wild Wild West,' and so I wanted to be in the Secret Service like James West. At some point I realized, 'That guy is not in the Secret Service. He's an actor.' That sounds like a good idea too. — Woody Harrelson

Old Timer's Disease
The celebrity
with Alzheimer's
sued himself for writing his
unauthorized autobiography. — Beryl Dov

Accidentally consumed five biscuits when I wasn't paying attention. Those biscuits are wily fellows - they leap in like sugary ninjas — Charles Dickens

He was gazing right into her eyes, as he said this, seemingly imparting something of the impossibility of connections when one is always on the move. — Jojo Moyes

What a lot of graves there are laid out as far as the eye can see!. Their headstones are like hands raised in surrender, though they are beyond being threatened by anything. A city of silence and truth, where success and failure, murderer and victim come together, where thieves and policeman lie side by side in peace for the first and last time. — Naguib Mahfouz

Islam may soon become the majority religion in countries whose churches have been turned more and more into tourist sites, apartment houses, theatres, and places of entertainment. The French scholar Olivier Roy is right: Islam is now a European religion. — Ian Buruma

I am skeptical about the idea that we can learn much from history, at least in the sense that knowledge of past follies will prevent us from making similar blunders in the future... And yet it is important to know what happened before, and to try and make sense of it. For if we don't, we cannot understand our own times. — Ian Buruma

There was a period where I dressed sort of like a mechanic and I looked really schlumpy, and I thought, "This is not who I am. This is not who I want to be." It was a very important moment for me - to not hide. — Jeanine Tesori

Buruma is wise to recommend a balance of concessions and coordination in order to avoid war. — Renate Bridenthal