Indian Americans

"Travel is always surprising. You can never read enough about a destination in a book to understand or to see what it's like until you get there. So, I tend to reserve my judgment about places because every time I've gone to different places I've been surprised. And I love that."

"If we’re [kids] called creative, why can’t we use that creativity to solve some of the world’s biggest problems?"

"Changing an industry requires a willingness to take risks and challenge the status quo."

"Being oneself is truly living. Gandhiji said, "If I don't live the truth, I am and will never be free." And being free is the essence of expressing oneself and Being. This is Moksha-Dharma and Moksha-that is what I am interested in. Dharma is the honesty of oneself with oneself."

"(F.J.: How do we define the classics?) Rao: Whatever talks of realities, not supposed realities, interests me. Iread the classics because of their concerns with fundamentals. The classics are concerned only with fundamentals; otherwise, they wouldn't endure. I would much rather read a great spiritual writer like Dostoevsky or Valery than what is written today. Why read a superficial novel when I could read the Mahabharata or Shankaracharya?...(F.J. Could you name the key classics for you? Rao: The Odyssey, Tristan und Isolde, Genji in Japan, Chinese classical poetry, and of course the Indian literature of all ages. The revival of old Greek myths, in the contemporary literature of France, is very important The classics are always contemporary because they speak of our essential relation to love, life and death. (F.J.: Is the cultural context important here?) Rao: There is no cultural context to love, life and death - Hamlet is universal. Orpheus, Oedipus- these are the fundamental myths of man."

"“We cannot write like the English. We should not. We can write only as Indians” because the “tempo of Indian life must be infused into our English expression. . . . We, in India, think quickly, and when we move we move quickly.” ... “There must be something in the sun of India that makes us rush and tumble and run on. . . . Episode follows episode, and when our thoughts stop our breath stops, and we move on to another thought. This was and still is the ordinary style of our storytelling.”"

"“I am a man of silence. And words emerge from that silence with light, of light, and light is sacred. One wonders that there is the word at all ‐Sabda-‐and one asks oneself, where did it come from? How does it arise? I have asked this question for many, many years. I’ve asked it of linguists, I’ve asked it of poets, I’ve asked it of scholars. The word seems to come first as an impulsion from the nowhere, and then as a prehension, and it becomes less and less esoteric – – till it begins to be concrete. And the concrete becoming ever more earthy, and the earthy communicated, as the common word, alas, seems to possess least of that original light. The writer or the poet is he who seeks back the common word to its origin of silence that the manifested word become light. […] Thus the word coming of light is seen eventually by light. That is, every word-image is seen by light, and that is its meaning. Therefore the effort of the writer, if he’s sincere, is to forget himself in the process and go back to the light from which words come. Go back where? Those who read or those who hear must reach back to their own light. And that light I think is prayer.”"

"we are here after Joyce, and Joyce was very daring, very creative. Now we must all be very daring, and do what we want with the language we use."

"England and America are industrialized societies and therefore have a very superficial culture, what do they call it, a "horizontal" culture. They have lost touch with themselves, that is with a deeper, spiritual dimension. It is only out of this deeper experience that great literature arises...It is hard to be truly spiritual in a country like England today. Except Kathleene Raine, who writes authentic poetry in England today?"

"Things become easy once you learn them. The monster of complex STEM problems can be tamed with experiments and trying again one more time!"

"they spent trillions, killed millions, and made billions for themselves"

"The real election that was stolen was stolen from [Donald Trump] was the 2016 election, which I believe was stolen from him. He wasn't able to govern because of a fraudulent theory created by opposition research, that somehow the FBI bought to get a FISA warrant to stop a man from governing for the first two years as effectively as he might have done. I also believe that the Hunter Biden laptop story, if unsuppressed, the data would suggest it, I think you would agree on these facts if you look at the polling data, would have likely changed the outcome of what was otherwise a very close election. Most Americans did not have access to that story because it was systematically suppressed. If they did have access to it [...], there's strong evidence and polling data to suggest, that would have changed the outcome of the election. I have also said that I have seen no evidence of systematic ballot fraud that would have overturned the result of the 2020 election."

"What the MSM calls a “conspiracy theory” is often nothing more than an amalgam of incentives hiding in plain sight. Once you see that, the rest becomes pretty obvious."

"In exchange, corporations got to wear the protective cloak of wokeness’s moral superiority."

"It’s a system of beliefs that stands as one indivisible unit and touches on all aspects of one’s existence. You aren’t allowed to consider the evidence and pick and choose which parts of wokeness you like. … Like Christianity and Islam, wokeness purports to provide a system of beliefs that explains everything, and it doesn’t allow its believers to pick and choose … … wokeness gives commands, not suggestions. … You’re not allowed to be a little woke, just like Christians can’t follow their five favorite commandments. […] It’s the structure that they use to make sense of the universe. Where a nonwoke person sees ordinary interactions, … a disciple of wokeness sees microaggressions. Just as a Christian sees God’s hand in all of Creation, someone who’s woke sees the guiding hand of identity-based power relations everywhere they look."

"We fought a civil war in this country to give black Americans the equal protection under the law that we failed to secure them in 1776. But then, you want to know what happened? Southern states passed anti-gun laws that stopped black people from owning guns; the Democrat Party, then as in now, wanted to put them back in chains."

"(Chris Christie): I've heard enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT standing up here."

"Corporations never truly loved wokeness, even as they embraced it and married it to capitalism. They always intended to use it. But wokeness never truly loved capitalism, either. There was nothing fundamentally woke about capitalism, no natural compatibility. When corporations started proclaiming that wokeness and capitalism were inseparable and offering money and status to anyone who could help spread that message, each side accepted the proposal not because there was very much truth to it but because it was profitable. […]"

"[…] the defining scam of our time – one that robs you of not only your money but your voice and your identity."

"[About 6 January 2020:] I'm not condoning what [Donald Trump] did. What he did was wrong. But the real cause of what happened on January 6 was censorship."

"Wokeness is the new orthodoxy, the new religion, one that disguises itself in secular clothing. Because its disciples worship the secular forces of identity rather than any supernatural one, it’s much easier for the Church of Diversity to infiltrate the workplace."

"Bari Weiss: The way that you're talking about the need to restore a national character, I cannot square that with your support of Donald Trump."

"Diversity has become a term of art, a symbol, one so powerful that the symbol is now more important than the thing it was supposed to represent. Wokeness sacrifices true diversity, diversity of thought, so that skin-deep symbols of diversity like race and gender can thrive. Just like Christ in the story, true diversity of thought now represents a threat to the Church of Diversity."

"(Scott Adams About Vivek Ramaswamy): Wouldn't you love to know, if there's an international event [...], that your guy – the guy representing your country – is the smartest one in the room? For once? For once?"

"If we're successful, the true mark of success for the U.S. and for Israel would be to get to a 2028 where Israel is so strongly standing on its own two feet, integrated into the economic and security infrastructure of the rest of the Middle East, that it will not require and be dependent on that same level of historical aid or commitment from the U.S.."

"If folks at home want to watch a bunch of people blindly bash Trump, they can just flip the channel and watch MSNBC right now. But I'm not running for President of MSNBC, I'm running for President of the United States."

"Our request comes as the President has declared his intent to carry out the “single largest mass deportation program in history,” specifically naming the city of Chicago as a target, in addition to other Democratic-run cities. The President’s politically motivated actions are deeply troubling, particularly for communities like ours in Illinois that have already seen intensified enforcement activity in recent weeks. The administration must ensure that all individuals, regardless of immigration status, are treated with dignity and afforded due process – as that is the law. Yet the reality on the ground tells a different story. The President has repeatedly targeted Chicago, and we are now witnessing the consequences unfold in disturbing ways. In Chicago, these facilities are the site of reports that allege rushed deportations, inadequate medical care, restricted legal access, and poor conditions. These are not isolated incidents—they point to broader systemic failures in enforcement and facility oversight."

"There’s another important reason not to send the Dreamers packing: they are essential to preserving the social insurance programs on which older Americans rely. More and more Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age, with relatively fewer and fewer active workers paying into Social Security and Medicare. Tossing nearly a million productive, taxpaying Dreamers out of a job will remove billions of dollars in contributions to those essential retirement programs."

"Some of the individuals lured to ICE facilities in Chicago were reportedly detained for several days under inhumane conditions. One of those detained, Ms. Gladis Yolanda Chavez Pineda—a longtime Chicago resident and respected community leader—described a harrowing experience. Her husband stated in an interview, “She has not had access to a shower. She has not had access to feminine hygiene products. She has not been able to change her clothes...They have no information of what’s happening. They don’t even have a clock.” After being moved to a jail in Kentucky, Pineda reported that “People are sleeping on concrete floors. Last Sunday, one mattress was given to a group of 20 mothers to share. In one of the facilities, only one bathroom is given to 20 or more individuals, with no partitions and privacy.” These reports reflect systemic issues in ICE’s enforcement strategies and facility management, not just in Illinois but across the country."

"It is time to investigate Russian interference in our democracy and to address it in a manner that will help restore Americans’ trust in their government."

"I decided to run for Congress to get and keep people in the middle class."

"A functioning democracy cannot stand when its people do not trust their leaders to uphold the law."

"I think it’s so important we’re a nation of laws but also a nation of immigrants."

"The American people need to know if public servants are operating in the best interests of the United States or the Kremlin."

"Equality as a principle is at the heart of our democracy."

"Last week, during a visit to the “South Loop” ICE facility (the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office located at 2245 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago) we were denied the ability to perform congressional oversight – as is our duty as members of the United States House of Representatives. During the visit to this facility, the ICE officer who refused to identify himself called the Chicago Police Department to evict us for “trespassing.” We are writing today to express deep concern regarding the lack of oversight of these facilities and their operations, and to request immediate and full access to ICE facilities for the purpose of investigating this activity further. This specific facility has been the site of very disturbing incidents that have shaken our community. On June 4, 2025, ICE officials detained at least 10 individuals after they were texted to demand they show up for a routine appointment1. It is unclear exactly how many people were taken, where they were taken to, and if they were given access to counsel – all of which we were hoping to learn through performing our oversight duties. We were denied those answers. We are writing to you today to demand access to this facility."

"My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Kerala and their loved ones."

"Any such exception or exemption would be a tremendous mistake ...we respectfully request the FDA to resist."

"I have strong differences with Mr. Trump on a woman’s right to choose and what kind of justices belong on the Supreme Court."

"Pocketbook and economic issues is pretty much all I campaigned on"

"This is in our backyard. Hoffman Estates. My district. I am deeply disturbed by what looks like ICE agents violently detaining a child. A child. She could be yours just as she could be mine. My team and I are looking into this, but please don’t look away. This is what Donald Trump is doing to our communities — and it’s exactly why I’ve called to subpoena Kristi Noem to appear before the House Oversight Committee. I demand answers on this now."

"When something as serious as cancer or carcinogens are at issue."

"Certainly, I think the president does want this total absolute exoneration, in all caps, to happen, ASAP. And I think that perhaps, Mitch McConnell or four Republican senators would join with Democrats to call for a fair process."

"In light of the public interest around this particular issue."

"The question is are they going to be equipped and are we going to be able to aid them sufficiently to be able to reassert control eventually."

"The way they handle issues of race and gender, and the way they treat their employees really influences the way society handles those very issues, we're very much interested in learning more about exactly why The NFL did what they did and the way they did it."

"I hope that they treat her with the dignity she deserves, the respect that she deserves. By all accounts, she was an excellent member of the foreign service."

"I think that the less we know about that person, the more protected he or she will be."

"It feels like that's kind of vaping on steroids."

"There’s just so much unknown information exotic ingredients, so my hope is to educate the reader, and take them on this journey to procuring and exploring these exotic ingredients around the world—from Serbia to meth heads in Oregon."