Refugee Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old refugee quotes, refugee sayings, and refugee proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

A refugee is as helpless as a new born child but not so appealing! Besides, a new born child has no memories! Phyllis Bottome
Refugee problems can only be solved in the region (of origin) - maybe with a little help from the UN. Governments must provide something for their countries. They need to deliver. Yoweri Museveni
Refugees are not terrorists. They are often the first victims of terrorism. António Guterres 
Refugees didn't just escape a place. They had to escape a thousand memories until they'd put enough time and distance between them and their misery to wake to a better day. Nadia Hashimi
Refugees cannot be stopped, but they can and must be managed better, more humanely, protecting migrants' human rights whilst accepting states' rights to control their borders. Kofi Annan
No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land. Warsan Shire
Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. They are children, women and men who leave or who are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share a legitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for being more. Pope Francis
While every refugee's story is different and their anguish personal, they all share a common thread of uncommon courage the courage not only to survive, but to persevere and rebuild their shattered lives. Antonio Guterres
A lasting solution, the possibility to begin a new life, is the only dignified solution for the refugee himself. Poul Hartling
Refugees are people, they're not numbers on a score card. Michelle Rempel
Refugees have been displaced by war or natural disaster or political catastrophes, and they are much more threatening because they are reminders to people that all the comforts that we take for granted can be taken away in just a moment. Nguyen Viet Thang
For a start, people who traveled for so many miles through such horrific conditions in order to find work cannot accurately be portrayed as lazy benefit-scroungers. Patrick Kingsley
Refugees are going to continue to come, and the only question is what we are going to do to help them. Davan Yahya Khalil
The refugee crisis shows we can't be isolated from the world's geopolitical troubles. Emmanuel Macron
It is as if families on the run are shattered by something other than just grenades. The flight and fear tears us apart and those parts land in all kinds of places we don't even know where. Henning Mankell
The refugees flee to protect their families from violence; the Europeans, on the other hand, fear for their jobs that they need to feed their families. Jane Goodall
People floating like pollen in search of more fertile soil. Andrew Crofts
There is no exodus that is done with people smiling. Alfonse Munyanza
The root cause of many conflicts which produce refugees is economic. Julius K. Nyerere
Norway opened the door for me, and I will always be grateful for that. Not everyone would risk opening a door for someone running away from a wild beast. Koigi wa Wamwere
Going back or staying here, either way, we die. Wilson Ndabateze
The word in Swahili for refugees is Wakimbizi, 'They run away.' I do not like this term. Julius K. Nyerere
Once we had a country and we thought it fair, / Look in the Atlas and you'll find it here: / We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now. W.H. Auden
A big man is always accused of gluttony, whereas a wizened or osseous man can eat like a refugee at every meal, and no one ever notices his greed. Robertson Davies
When the crowded Vietnamese refugee boats met with storms or pirates, if everyone panicked, all would be lost. But if even one person on the boat remained calm and centered, it was enough. It showed the way for everyone to survive. Thich Nhat Hanh
We have nowhere to go. It is not easy to live in another man's country but your own. Ruth Perry
I was forced to leave and flee and go away / it’s a day that I can't let go astray from the wind to the rain / I felt the pain of being a refugee / forced to leave my country for the war. Steven Tant
O, great man! O, great woman! Choose anything that is better than To be a refugee! Be a pretty flower in the corner of Your pretty and ruined house and Never be a missing refugee! Be under a broken tree and don't Be a refugee in a bad tent! Be anywhere within your destroyed house And do not choose to be a refugee! Mohammad Skati
To be called a refugee is the opposite of an insult; it is a badge of strength, courage, and victory. Tennessee Office for Refugee
A refugee is someone who survived and who can create the future. Amela Koluder