I don't think the world will destroy itself in a nuclear cataclysm. On the contrary, we have the capacity to save ourselves and save the planet, and we will use it.
Isabel AllendeRead
I learned very quickly that when you emigrate, you lose the crutches that have been your support; you must begin from zero, because the past is erased with a single stroke and no one cares where you’re from or what you did before.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Emigrating means starting anew, leaving behind past support systems and identities.
This quote by Isabel Allende highlights the profound experience of emigration, emphasizing that individuals who move to a new country often face the challenge of starting fresh. They lose the familiar supports from their past, must rebuild their lives from scratch, and often find that their previous accomplishments and identities do not matter to those in their new environment.
Themes
EmigrationStarting OverIdentityChangeResilience
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the immigrant experience at a community event.
More from Isabel Allende
All quotes →My mother is a great artist, but she always treated her paintings like minor postcards. Had she pursued it, she would have been a great artist. Instead, she looked down on her art.
Isabel AllendeRead
I never try to convey a message, I just want to tell a story. Why that story in particular? I have no idea, but I have learned to surrender to the muse. I become obsessed with a theme or with certain stories; they haunt me for years, and finally, I write them.
Isabel AllendeRead
My life is about ups and downs, great joys and great losses.
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I'm interested in people who have to overcome obstacles, people who are not sheltered by the umbrella of the establishment, marginals.
Isabel AllendeRead
I'm a writer. In Latin America, they say I'm a Latin-American writer because I also write in Spanish and my books are translated, but I am an American citizen and my books are published here, so I'm also an American writer.
Isabel AllendeRead
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