Quotes About Diversity

“Even more complex and dangerous than the river itself were the fishes, mammals, and reptiles that inhabited it. Like the rain forest that surrounds and depends upon it, the Amazon river system is a prodigy of speciation and diversity, serving as home to more than three thousand species of freshwater fishes-more than any other river system on earth. Its waters are crowded with creatures of nearly every size, shape, and evolutionary adaptation, from tiny neon tetras to thousand-pound manatees to pink freshwater boto dolphins to stingrays to armor-plated catfishes to bullsharks. By comparison, the entire Missouri and Mississippi river system that drains much of North America has only about 375 fish”

— Candice Millard

“Chaucer's world in The Canterbury Tales brings together, for the first time, a diversity of characters, social levels, attitudes, and ways of life. The tales themselves make use of a similarly wide range of forms and styles, which show the diversity of cultural influences which the author had at his disposal. Literature, with Chaucer, has taken on a new role: as well as affirming a developing language, it is a mirror of its times - but a mirror which teases as it reveals, which questions while it narrates, and which opens up a range of issues and questions, instead of providing simple, easy answers.”

— Ronald Carter

“The modern family is one in which the divergent values of our separate souls are supported, valued, encouraged. Diversity is not just tolerated, it is affirmed as the radical gift of relationship. Conflict is mediated with accepting love despite disagreement, and no one carries the assigned burden of becoming something other than what they are.”

— James Hollis

“I hate diversity workshops. Real change comes from having enough comfort to be really honest and say something very uncomfortable.”

— Michelle Obama

“There were no actual villains, just inertia. The administration genuinely wanted more diversity for reasons of its image as well as fairness, notwithstanding the cranky alumni letters in The Daily Princetonian ... Hiring committees had not a clue where to look for or how to attract suitable candidates. And so, though a high-level recruitment plan existed on paper, there was only foot-dragging and defensive excuse making.”

— Sonia Sotomayor

“Plato had no perception of the uniqueness of every individual, of his incommensurability with others, of each individual as forming a class of his own. He had no recognition of the infinite diversity of active tendencies, and the combination of tendencies of which an individual is capable.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

“She might even have felt that self-congratulatory pride that heterosexual white people are known to experience due to proximate diversity.”

— Curtis Sittenfeld

“The point is that all of the known nations and peoples resulted from the blessing God had established from the beginning. National and ethnic diversity was not an aberration. There is no room for the concept that there is one pure race while others are tainted, somehow the result of sin or corruption.”

— John H. Walton

“Diversity is really a richness for mankind.”

— Fabiola Gianotti

“It's fair to say when you go out and walk in the woods or on a beach, the most conspicuous forms of life you will see are plants and animals, and certainly there's a huge diversity of those types of organisms, perhaps 10 million animal species and several hundred thousand plant species.”

— Andrew H. Knoll

“For as long as I can remember, I have been passionately intrigued by 'Africa,' by the word itself, by its flora and fauna, its topographical diversity and grandeur; but above all else, by the sheer variety of the colors of its people, from tan and sepia to jet and ebony.”

— Henry Louis Gates

“I can see that 'Switched at Birth' is attracting audiences because of the diversity and the American Sign Language as well. American Sign Language is such a beautiful language, and people want more of that.”

— Sean Berdy

“It's really important to share the idea that being different might feel like a problem at the time, but ultimately diversity is a strength.”

— Carson Kressley

“Four out of five HSN corporate officers are women. I'm a believer that a diversity of mindset enables us to have an engaged conversation.”

— Mindy Grossman

“The drive behind what I do is really to make sure that people don't go to bed hungry. It's not just that I have a love of diversity, it's the importance of the uses of that diversity.”

— Cary Fowler

“I think diversity can also be a resource, an asset, especially in a world that is becoming globalized, to deal with difference, to deal with variety, to deal with complexity.”

— Jose Manuel Barroso

“America is grappling with cultural diversity, and I just want to put a show on that represents the world in which I live.”

— David Alan Grier

“I am meeting Diaspora Jews all the time, and we are developing programmes to prevent distancing. We have a joint history, but we cannot take matters for granted. Israel is home for all of us, and part of the beauty of the country is its social diversity.”

— Ofra Strauss

“I have very strong views on TV. There's no diversity, there's no choice. Things are decided by committee.”

— John Lloyd

“The true diversity of humanity is this: the luminous and the dark.
To diminish the number of dark, to increase the number of luminous, that is the aim. That is why we cry: education, knowledge! To learn to read is to kindle a fire; every syllable spelled sparkles.
But whoever says light does not necessarily say joy. There is suffering in the light; an excess burns. Flame is hostile to the wing. To burn and yet to fly, this is the miracle of genius.
When you know and when you love you will suffer. The day dawns in tears. The luminous weep, be it only for the dark ones.”

— Victor Hugo

“We can make the United States a 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity.”

— Richard Lamm

“The human race, for all our facets and our institutional stupidity, is something I believe in. I admire our diversity, our stubbornness. The dynamic of conflict is one of our greatest traits.”

— Peter F. Hamilton

“If we abandon the fullness of the gospel to make racial and ethnic diversity quicker or easier, we create a mere shadow of the kingdom, an imitation.”

— John Piper

“Mass media swamps diversity. It makes every place the same. Bangkok or Tokyo or London: there's a McDonald's on one corner, a Benetton on another, a Gap across the street. Regional differences vanish. All differences vanish. In a mass-media world, there's less of everything except the top ten books, records, movies, ideas.”

— Michael Crichton

“What we should celebrate more than diversity is what we do with it. How do we bring everyone in the tent and create something together? In a twenty-first century way that activates our true potential, we all need to become sworn-again.”

— Eric Liu

“All my life I've been looking for diversity.”

— Max Von Sydow

“Fashion goes beyond fabric; it is the attempt to manifest art on a breathing canvas. I am very excited to collaborate with the artistic community as we celebrate this diversity of creative vision.”

— David Dixon

“Cultural differences should not separate us from each other, but rather cultural diversity brings a collective strength that can benefit all of humanity." Also: "Intercultural dialogue is the best guarantee of a more peaceful, just and sustainable world.”

— Robert Alan Aurthur

“In thirty years or so, the majority will no longer be European Americans; the first generation of mostly babies of color has already been born. This new diversity will give us a better understanding of the world and enrich our cultural choices, yet there are people whose sense of identity depends on the old hierarchy.”

— Gloria Steinem

“Each finite creature can reflect only a fraction of the divine nature; thus, in the diversity of His creatures, God's infinity, unity and oneness appear to be broken into an effulfgence of manifold rays.”

— Edith Stein

“This world is not one color or culture. Everybody has a story. To tell that story or see that story reflected through art is extremely valuable to the community. The arts belong to everyone and our work should reflect that diversity.”

— Jesse L. Martin

“To defeat terrorism, we must acknowledge that we are all human beings. It is not our choice to belong to a particular race or family. We should be freed from fear of the other and enjoy diversity within democracy. I believe that dialogue and education are the most effective means to surpass our differences.”

— Fethullah Gulen

“Wilderness is a place where the wild potential is fully expressed, a diversity of living and nonliving beings flourishing according to their own sorts of order. In ecology we speak of "wild systems." When an ecosystem is fully functioning, all the members are present at the assembly. To speak of wilderness is to speak of wholeness. Human beings came out of that wholeness, and to consider the possibility of reactivating membership in the Assembly of All Beings is in no way regressive.”

— Gary Snyder

“By separating the function of adaptation from the function of maintaining the integrity of individual genes, sex allows much greater diversity while still keeping genes whole. Sex is not only fun, it is good engineering practice.”

— Seth Lloyd

“The notion that diversity in an early team is important or good
is completely wrong. You should try to make the early team as
non-diverse as possible.”

— Max Levchin

“But remember: All this talk of tolerance and diversity is basically just a way for one group of white people to pursue power over other groups of white people. It's not about actually helping anyone.”

— Glenn Reynolds

“New Singapore will be one of the world's finest, most liveable cities. Arts, theatres, museums, music and sports will flourish. Singapore will be a lively and exciting place.. Our city will not only have depth, but also the richness of diversity. But above all, Singapore will a home for Singaporeans.”

— Goh Chok Tong

“We have the chance to build this new energy economy in ways that reflect our deepest values of inclusion, diversity, and equal opportunity for everyone.”

— Van Jones

“The tormented world cries out for internationhood, for co-existence in a harmony of diversity and mutual aid, for an end to self-segregation along secondary or superficial or downright imbecilic lines.”

— Clara Fraser

“I think we're at a really rich and fertile time in the zeitgeist about paying attention to diversity of all kinds - racial diversity, gender diversity, making room for a continuum that is more inclusive.”

— Sara Bareilles

“In each human heart are a tiger, a pig, an ass and a nightingale. Diversity of character is due to their unequal activity.”

— Ambrose Bierce

“In part because individual judgement is not accurate enough or consistent enough, cognitive diversity is essential to good decision making.”

— James Surowiecki

“I don't accept subtractive models of love, only additive ones. And I believe that in the same way we need species diversity to ensure that the planet can go on, so we need this diversity of affection and diversity of family in order to strengthen the ecosphere of kindness”

— Andrew Solomon

“"If we had not created a set of people against another the world would have been corrupt", and "against" here means two things: Against in the fact that they are challenging you with their diversity, challenging your intelligence and to challenge is not negative, it can be very positive depending on how you are challenged.”

— Tariq Ramadan

“Johnny Depp is really my favorite male actor. Ellen Page would be my favorite female actor. Both of them, just because of the diversity that Johnny plays in his roles and just the different characters that he morphs into, it's fantastic.”

— Callan McAuliffe

“Everything that makes diversity of kinds, of species, differences, properties ... everything that consists in generation, decay, alteration and change is not an entity, but a condition and circumstance of entity and being, which is one, infinite, immobile, subject, matter, life , death , truth , lies , good and evil .”

— Giordano Bruno

“Justice may be blind, but we all know that diversity in the courts, as in all aspects of society, sharpens our vision and makes us a stronger nation.”

— William J. Clinton

“Diversity there certainly is in the world, but it means neither inequality nor untouchability.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

“It becomes clear that, given our diversity, no single religion satisfies all humanity. ... And since the majority does not practice religion, I am concerned to try to find a way to serve all humanity without appealing to religious faith.”

— Dalai Lama

“Our cultural strength has always been derived from our diversity of understanding and experience.”

— Yo-Yo Ma