Intercultural Communication Quotes

“Cultural integration doesn't happen by you boasting about your culture, it happens by you coming forward enthusiastically to learn about another culture.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier

“Intercultural business contexts force us to be more self-aware and to rely on words more than we do in our native cultures.”
― Sherwood Fleming, Dance of Opinions: Mastering Written and Spoken Communication for Intercultural Business Using English as a Second Language

“Expansion or Extinction

Identity is selfishness, heritage is selfishness, culture is selfishness, that is, the way these constructs have been sustained in society all this time.

All this time things have been going on like this - my identity versus all others - my heritage versus all others - my culture versus all others. And such behavior has only fostered a paradigm of division.

This must change - from division to unison. And how will it happen? We gotta perform a complete overhaul of notions of identity, heritage and culture. We gotta turn each of them from a prison into a path. In simple terms, we gotta humanize them all - we gotta make them more about people than anything else - more about the people of the present and future than those of the past.

We gotta make them about life, not habits, beliefs and rituals. One may wonder, aren't habits, beliefs and rituals also life!

No they ain't - they are part of life, a microscopic part at that, but not life itself. So first and foremost, feel, think and walk past habits, beliefs and rituals, of your ancestors as well as your own.

Expansion, expansion, expansion - only way forward is expansion. If you are afraid that your ancestors would be offended at your expansion, then let me tell you this. It's better to have no ancestor than to have one offended at your expansion.

All our ancestors made this mistake. They were all against expansion. Make not the same mistake my friend. Expand yourself, and encourage the children towards further expansion. Encourage them to surpass you, instead of sentencing them to the prison of your own beliefs and notions.

Without expansion there ain't gonna be no earth left, that is, one fit for human existence. And to be honest, the day is not far when planet earth will be absolutely unfit for human existence, both psychologically and physically.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervish Advaitam: Gospel of Sacred Feminines and Holy Fathers

“I am not east, I am not west, I am the whole world.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sin Dios Sí Hay Divinidad: The Pastor Who Never Was

“Three criteria to inspire as well as cultivate intercultural trust — sincerity, competence and reliability.”
― Sherwood Fleming, Dance of Opinions: Mastering Written and Spoken Communication for Intercultural Business Using English as a Second Language

“When you withhold trust within intercultural business contexts, how are you making the decision to not trust someone?”
― Sherwood Fleming, Dance of Opinions: Mastering Written and Spoken Communication for Intercultural Business Using English as a Second Language

“The Being is The Bridge (The Sonnet)

I came to life at Dakshineswar,
At Kapadokya I got my sight.
I found my might at Shaolin,
At Liberty Island I came to light.
In Pernik I bathed in love,
By the Volga I tasted sapience.
Lika taught me the role of innovation,
Sudbury gave me the sail of science.
Streets of Calcutta showed me suffering,
Streets of Chicago reminded, I'm the answer.
It's not the place but people who hold magic,
Revolution rose when all of them came together.
You won't know me as the father of a nation.
You'll know me as the maker of amalgamation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier

“One who has integration in their heart, will find integration everywhere, but those who have nothing but hate in their heart, will remain hateful no matter how many messengers of love come and go.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Divane Dynamite: Only truth in the cosmos is love

“I am not east, I am not west, I am the whole world. I have absorbed the good from every single culture of planet earth, and now the entire world courses through my veins as lifeblood. That is why, I am a human being - that is why, I am a whole human being.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sin Dios Sí Hay Divinidad: The Pastor Who Never Was

“Aum Amen Assalaam (The Interfaith Sonnet)

Jo bole so nihal - honest, brave 'n nondual!
Ain't no human run by divisionism.
You may say Merhaba, or Hallelujah,
Smiling I respond, Walaikum Assalam.
Every human greeting is an act of peace,
Language differs, not the emotion.
Yet we keep bickering over language,
Overlooking all loving unison.
Chag sameach say some of us,
Some say happy holidays!
Across the words, into the heart,
We'll find the flame of happiness.
Underneath every version of felicidad,
there is a sense of illumination.
Aim of all Aum and Amen - is unification.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mukemmel Musalman: Kafir Biraz, Peygamber Biraz

“Every human greeting is an act of peace.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mukemmel Musalman: Kafir Biraz, Peygamber Biraz

“Better be an outspoken bigot than a counterfeit freethinker.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mukemmel Musalman: Kafir Biraz, Peygamber Biraz

“Culture integrated is culture empowered.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans

“Every atom of planet earth is teeming with potential, yet most see nothing beyond the rim of their culture.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans

“Wipe out America, you wipe out innovation.
Wipe out India, you wipe out spirituality.
Wipe out Latin America, you wipe out liberty.
Wipe out Turkiye, you wipe out poetry.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World

“I speak the tongues of earth,
I sing the songs of earth.
Forever I find myself,
In many fervors of earth.

Ain't got no single nation,
Ain't got no single culture.
Human am I, I belong to humans,
Come hell or come high water!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Ain't got no single nation,
Ain't got no single culture.
Human am I, I belong to humans,
Come hell or come high water!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Get Well Soon (The Sonnet)

Upon absorbing all cultures into my blood,
I realize, the supreme culture is love.
Upon studying all scriptures as my own,
I realize, the supreme gospel is love.
Even after speaking six languages,
I say, the supreme language is love.
Upon observing all political ideologies,
I say, only ideal worth submission is love.
Unfolding the neural underpinnings of behavior,
I realize, seed of civilization is love.
Unraveling the cellular mysteries of life,
I realize, existence oughta be a record of love.
Tiny-brained know-it-alls will still yell,
their culture beats all, like some tipsy loon.
To which all I can say is - get well soon!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“First Language (The Sonnet)

English is my second language,
My first language is love.
Neuroscience is my second sense,
My first sense is love.

Theology is my second faith,
My first faith is interfaith.
Philosophy is my second nature,
My first nature is to assimilate.

Analog is my second passion,
My first passion is dialogue.
Law is my second task, my first,
Is taking beings out of the bog.

All labels are second labels,
Our native label is human.
All tradition is second tradition,
Earth's native tradition is compassion.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“English is my second language,
My first language is love.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“English is my work language,
Turkish is my love language,
Spanish is my play language,
Telugu is my leisure language.

This would probably be different for you - perhaps for you, it all happens in one language - English, and that's perfectly fine. Different people are inspired in different ways - it's alright - as long as all our inspirations converge into one result - a better world for all - where there is no interracial dialogue, there is no intercultural communication, there is no interreligious relations - because - there is but one race, humanity - there is but one culture, humanity - there is but one religion, humanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“I have but one law - I don't exist. I don't have a homeland, I don't have a native tongue, I don't have an origin culture - for you are my home, your tongue is my tongue, your culture is my culture. Those who still want to learn about my origin, could easily find out where I come from and all that nonsense, but as for me, my existence is rooted in you - that's all you gotta know. Nothing else matters, nothing else must matter. I repeat, nothing else must matter. For an earthbound species, I am native of earth - for an interplanetary species, I am native of Milky Way - for an intergalactic species, I am a native of the cosmos - for a lifeform beyond time and space, I am but a speck of carbon-based electrochemical memory.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Either Right or Human: 300 Limericks of Inclusion

“The best reason for exposing oneself to foreign ways is to generate a sense of vitality and
awareness – an interest in life which can come only when one lives through the shock of
contrast and difference.”
― Edward T. Hall, The Silent Language

“When I crossed the hundred books mark, I genuinely thought, "I'm done". But something happened! I don't know why, but my drive towards other languages became stronger than ever. I felt, now is the time to make parts of my legacy more accessible to other languages. I have never relied on anyone in my life for the realization of my legacy, so it was obvious that I was not gonna wait for somebody else to translate my works for me. Besides, when somebody else translates an original literature into another language, it always remains a translation - it can never become an original literature of that language and culture. This I absolutely did not want.

Sure, other than Turkish and Spanish, I have difficulty with other languages - that is, I am not at all fluent in them. But the point is, once I feel the language and culture in my veins, I can deliver my ideas in any language I want. And I've been doing exactly that over the years - absorbing as many cultures and languages into my bloodstream as I can that is. If you tear my heart open, you can find every single culture in the world, caringly placed and nurtured. Some call it gift, I call it intention.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Once I feel the language and culture in my veins, I can deliver my ideas in any language I want. I can write in any language, because I want to. And no, I don't use some fancy AI tools. In fact, I have an uncompromising principle against the use of AI in literature. Heck, I opted not to use something so trivial as an image containing yours truly with a mace, as cover image of "Bulletproof Backbone", because it collided with the book's anti-weaponry vision - so you can imagine my stance on fraudulent material generated by AI!

What I do use, while writing in other languages, is old-fashioned dictionary - online dictionary that is, to fix things like spelling, missing vocabulary and other broken bits - which makes me a broken polyglot. And believe you me, broken polyglots are potent polyglots. I may not be fluent in a lot of languages, but after I am long gone, each of these languages and cultures will have something distinctly personal left by me to call their own.

For example, I may not speak fluent German, yet if I write even one page in the German language, it'll forever become an indelible part of the German culture. It'll not be some off-key German translation of an original Naskar, rather it'll be a German literature from the vast Naskarean oeuvre.

Sure, I know my limits in each of these languages, that's why I keep my sentence structure simple, which I am not compelled to do in Turkish and Spanish. But more than my limits, I am aware of my limitlessness. And once the being transcends the limits of language, culture, border and tradition, puny apparatus like intellect is bound to follow.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets