Gjelten Quotes & Sayings

America is or should be about inclusion. Immigrants like muslims don't and can't fit the white European mold that prevailed in this country 50 years ago. — Tom Gjelten

The letter writers span the spectrum from left to right. Members say they don't want this to become a partisan political issue. In fact, there are reasons administration officials have been cautious in making a genocide declaration. — Tom Gjelten

Many immigrant groups have faced hostility. The Irish did in their time. Jews did. Italians did - and now, Muslim immigrants. — Tom Gjelten

Holocaust Museum said ISIS has carried out genocide against the Yazidis, but its investigation did not cover Christian persecution. Now there's concern the U.S. State Department might do the same, limiting any genocide pronouncement to Yazidis without mentioning Christians. — Tom Gjelten

And the pressure to clarify what exactly is happening to Christians and other minorities in the Middle East is certain to intensify in the New Year. — Tom Gjelten

The country has already become multicultural. Given immigration trends, it will only grow more diverse, and these new Americans want to share in their country's identity. — Tom Gjelten

The fact of our deriving constant pleasure from whatever is a type or semblance of divine attributes, and from nothing but that which is so, is the most glorious of all that can be demonstrated of human nature; it not only sets a great gulf of specific separation between us and the lower animals, but it seems a promise of a communion ultimately deep, close, and conscious, with the Being whose darkened manifestations we here feebly and unthinkingly delight in. — John Ruskin

With a novelist's sense of drama and a historian's understanding of the social forces that shape our lives, Tom Gjelten has captured vividly
through the chronicle of a powerful family's fortunes
one of the great political dramas of our time. — Ronald Steel

I like transformative TV. — Tempestt Bledsoe

ISIS goes after any group that deviates from its extreme ideology, dissident Muslims, for example, or the Yazidis who practice an ancient religion distinct from both Islam and Christianity. — Tom Gjelten

The battles over women's bodies can be won only by a revolution of the mind — Mona Eltahawy

From self-boasting, and therefore his merit is acknowledged; — Lao-Tzu

A similar move is underway in the British Parliament. Earlier this month, more than 30 religious leaders and scholars wrote Secretary of State John Kerry asking for a meeting to discuss what's happening to Christians and other minorities. Nina Shea organized the effort. — Tom Gjelten

Optimism sprouts from the knowledge that you are in control of your own life, not your past and not those around you. Part of being in control is taking responsibility for how you feel. This means not just admitting to uncomfortable feelings but then examining your circumstances to see what can be done to change these feelings at the source. — Augusten Burroughs

What is the conscience? It is the most highly developed part of the human being, the core of the spirit, the most sensitive, the most tender. — Pearl S. Buck

Muslim immigrants like himself encounter prejudice here [in U.S.] but also find political and religious freedom. — Tom Gjelten

State Department lawyers need to have the evidence to back up the charge before they make it. Here's Nebraska Republican Jeff Fortenberry questioning Assistant Secretary of State Anne Patterson at a House. — Tom Gjelten

Want to snatch a day from the manacles of boredom? Do overgenerous deeds, acts beyond reimbursement. Kindness without compensation. Do a deed for which you cannot be repaid. — Max Lucado

When ISIS last year called for the destruction of the Yazidi people, President Obama said that would constitute genocide and he ordered U.S. forces to keep it from happening. Human rights advocates say Christians now face a similar threat Nina Shea directs the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute. — Tom Gjelten

Really, monsieur, I should regard you as a coward, and a traitor too, if I did not, with greater justice, regard you as a madman. — Alexandre Dumas

Administration officials, in fact, have repeatedly condemned ISIS for its treatment of religious minorities, including Christians. But a bipartisan resolution now moving through Congress calls on the administration to go further and say ISIS is guilty of genocide. — Tom Gjelten

Can a man who lies, cheats, steals, and sometimes does violence to other people be a man of honor?
Kolabati looked into his eyes. He can if he lies to liars, cheats cheaters, steals from thieves, and limits his violence to those who are violent. — F. Paul Wilson

They don't want to feed an ISIS narrative that there is a religious war between Islam and the Christian West, plus genocide is carefully defined under international law. — Tom Gjelten

At one congressional hearing, Bishop Francis Kalabat complained that administration officials are overlooking what's happening to his fellow Chaldean Christians. — Tom Gjelten

Every wound is a word. — Lailah Gifty Akita

I was not ever hitchhiking alone. I've done solo train trips but I've never driven myself alone. — Anne Waldman