"In novels and autobiographies, the first positive move that the immigrant makes towards assimilation is to buy himself a suit of city clothes."

--

Source : Jonathan Raban (2017). “Soft City: Picador Classic”, p.40, Pan Macmillan

Jonathan Raban

#Moving Quotes #Cities Quotes #Clothes Quotes

“As a healer, the first thing to tell every patient is to breathe deeply. Shallow breathing means no endurance, no patience.”
“Throughout the late '80s, me and a handful of friends just like you people here, we started to break windows, we started to slash tires, we started to rescue animals from factory farms and vivisection breeders, and we graduated to breaking into laboratories . As long as we emptied the labs of animals, they were still easily replaced. So that's when the ALF in this country, and my cell, started engaging in arson.”
“Men are like wine,--not good before the lees of clownishness be settled.”
“The Dalmatian breed of dog has many primitive characteristics.”
“I would read fishing reports on the road and then it just occurred to me: I should go to sea school and get my captain's license, see if I can get paid to be out here every day.”
“Since we're neither at the bottom nor at the top, we must be in the middle.”
“Seeing with better eyes We can recognize that the offender is a valuable human being who struggles with the same needs, pressures, and confusions that we struggle with. We will recognize that the incident really may not have been about us in the first place. Instead it was about the wrongdoer's misguided attempt to meet his or her own needs. As we regard offenders from this point of view (regardless of whether they repent and regardless of what they have done or suffered), we will be in a position to forgive them.”
“I think my biggest revelation was to write entirely from the heart, and to convey emotion, even when it meant forcing myself to feel uncomfortable in doing so.”

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