Henry Louis Gates Quotes

Everything my mother and father did was designed to put me where I am.

Henry Louis Gates

• Mother
• Father

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Quotes to Explore

• Every man must define his identity against his mother. If he does not, he just falls back into her and is swallowed up.

  

  Camille Paglia
  • Up
  • Mother
  • Man

• On a personal level, there are many people who have meant a great deal to me. My father and mother were certainly of vital importance, not only in themselves but because they created a world for me to revolt against.

  

  Ingmar Bergman
  • People
  • World
  • Great

• We were poor, my mother and I, living in a world of doom and gloom, pessimism and bitterness, where storms raged and wolves scratched at the door.

  

  Said Sayrafiezadeh
  • World
  • Mother
  • Door

• My father was in Congress when I was born. He was mayor my whole life from when I was in grade school - first grade - to when I went away to college.

  

  Nancy Pelosi
  • Life
  • School
  • Father

• I knew that I was a gay boy fairly early; what was interesting to me was that my mother didn't know. She made me play baseball - I had no desire to do that. I said, 'Mom, I don't like direct sunlight, I don't like bugs, I don't like grass, and I'd rather be in the house playing with your fabric samples.'

  

  Nate Berkus
  • She
  • Mother
  • House

• Going to the movies was a big event in my youth. My father would be the initiator – he'd have me put on a jacket to see a film.

  

  Ralph Fiennes
  • Father
  • Film
  • Youth

• When I was really small, my mother had difficulty keeping me dressed, as I liked to be naked! I definitely had very strong ideas on what I wanted to wear. My favourite look was always Action Man and Spiderman. Now though, I really like beautiful clothes.

  

  Cara Delevingne
  • Mother
  • Beautiful
  • Strong

• I have Aboriginal roots on my father's side, and have always indentified with that spirit. I feel a lot of my music comes from that place.

  

  Xavier Rudd
  • Music
  • Father
  • Roots

• My mother was an activist; so was my father. They came from a generation of young Somalis who were actively involved in getting independence for Somalia in 1960.

  

  Iman
  • Mother
  • Father
  • Independence

• I'm in fact Australian but my mother's English so I've got no problem playing a domineering English woman.

  

  Jacki Weaver
  • Mother
  • Problem
  • Woman

• My mother and my sister are big Jon Snow fans.

  

  Carice van Houten
  • Mother
  • Sister
  • Snow

• He was not a runner, my father, but he was quick. I always remember it was very difficult to escape from him when he was angry. If he wanted to beat us he would always catch us. Even me, he could always catch me.

  

  Haile Gebrselassie
  • Remember
  • Father
  • Angry

• My younger sister had kids before I did, and managed to earn a master's degree while raising them as a single parent. Now she's a brilliant second-grade teacher. I'm in awe of her ability to juggle everything and still be a great mother.

  

  Idina Menzel
  • Great
  • She
  • Kids

• It is a lot of responsibility. But I enjoy being a father. That's one of the best parts of my life. I feel like, man, that's one of the greatest things I've got going on, being a father.

  

  T.I.
  • Life
  • Father
  • Responsibility

• I was always very silly and never took myself seriously. When my father had the camera out, I'd be up close and annoying. My father would keep saying, 'Move back! Move back!'

  

  Kaley Cuoco
  • Up
  • Father
  • Myself

• When I was very young I was sort of floored by the fact that my mother and my father and everyone I knew was going to die one day, and myself too. I had a sort of a philosophical crisis. I couldn't believe that we were mortal.

  

  Lana Del Rey
  • Believe
  • Mother
  • Father

• Parenting is difficult under any circumstances, and in my father's view, to raise a morally upright and honest child, you sometimes have to lie to him.

  

  W. Bruce Cameron
  • Father
  • Child
  • Parenting

• If I could, I would have my son on tour the whole time. But he has school, summer camp, and he has to see his mother.

  

  Nate Mendel Foo Fighters
  • Time
  • School
  • Mother

• My mother's belief in spiritual healers grew stronger after our family went through a rough patch following my father's death. Sufi saint Karimullah Shah Kadri changed our lives, and all of us converted to Sufism. But it wasn't an instantaneous decision - it took us 10 years to convert. The change in religion was like washing away the past.

  

  A. R. Rahman
  • Family
  • Mother
  • Father

• The inspiration came suddenly again to surrender to the Mother. It was quite unexpected: And so somehow I made a surrender to the Mother. Then I had an experience of overwhelming love. Waves of love sort of flowed into me.

  

  Bede Griffiths
  • Experience
  • Mother
  • Inspiration

• Words are all we have.

  

  Samuel Beckett
  • Words
  • Communication

• Team GB's success at the Beijing Olympics can, in part, be said to have been made in Manchester. For example, all the cycling medal winners trained at Manchester's velodrome, the National Cycling Centre.

  

  Lucy Powell
  • Success
  • Team

• Everything my mother and father did was designed to put me where I am.

  

  Henry Louis Gates
  • Mother
  • Father