--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Living on borders and in margins, keeping…" description: "\"Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one's shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new element, an \"alien..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f66/gloria-e-anzald-a-19502_aliens_living-on-borders-and-in-margins-keeping_2290389.png" --- # Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one's… ![“Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one's shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new element, an "alien" element.” quote by Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f66/gloria-e-anzald-a-19502_aliens_living-on-borders-and-in-margins-keeping_2290389.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f66/gloria-e-anzald-a-19502_aliens_living-on-borders-and-in-margins-keeping_2290389.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f66/gloria-e-anzald-a-19502_aliens_living-on-borders-and-in-margins-keeping_2290389.png) > “Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one's shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new element, an "alien" element.” [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Living on cultural margins forces continual adaptation, like swimming in an unfamiliar, alien medium, challenging identity and integrity. **In simple terms:** Margins demand constant adjustment and self‑definition. Key Takeaway Embrace fluid identity and resilience. Themes identity culture migration psychology Mood reflective hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - immigrant experience - artistic creation - personal growth Key Concepts borderlands fluidity self‑concept Questions to Reflect On - How do you maintain integrity amid shifting identities? - What strategies help you navigate cultural borders? A Different Perspective Alien environments can cause alienation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Aliens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aliens/) [Borders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borders/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Diversity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diversity/) [Elements](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elements/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Integrity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/integrity/) [Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/justice/) [Multiple identities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/multiple-identities/) [Social justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-justice/) ## Related quotes > [Let your words gives wings to your action.Your action is your identity.Your identity is your integrity,Maintain your integrity through it all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dranil-kr-sinha/let-your-words-gives-wings-to-your-action-your-action-is-your/) [DrAnil Kr Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dranil-kr-sinha/) > [Just because I believe in the identity and integrity of my country doesn't make a xenophobe or a nationalist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emir-kusturica/just-because-i-believe-in-the-identity-and-integrity-of-my-country/) [Emir Kusturica](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emir-kusturica/) > [As you live your values, your sense of identity, integrity, control, and inner-directedness will infuse you with both exhilaration and peace. You will define…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-covey/as-you-live-your-values-your-sense-of-identity-integrity-control-and/) [Stephen Covey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-covey/) > [All are interconnected...the environment; rights of the dying; care of caregivers; education and medical care for peoples of the Himalayas; prison work; those living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-halifax/all-are-interconnected-the-environment-rights-of-the-dying-care-of/) [Joan Halifax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-halifax/) > [I have multiple identities. I'm British. I'm Pakistani. I'm a Muslim. I'm a writer. I'm a father. And each identity has rich overtones. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ziauddin-sardar/i-have-multiple-identities-i-m-british-i-m-pakistani-i-m-a-muslim-i-m/) [Ziauddin Sardar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ziauddin-sardar/) > [I am, it seems, interested in people with multiple identities. I think we all have multiple identities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-spiotta/i-am-it-seems-interested-in-people-with-multiple-identities-i-think/) [Dana Spiotta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-spiotta/) > [The key to the survival of liberty in the modern world is the embrace of multiple identities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-garton-ash/the-key-to-the-survival-of-liberty-in-the-modern-world-is-the-embrace/) [Timothy Garton Ash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-garton-ash/) > [If people have multiple identities and deal with multiple realities, why should we expect them to be ontological purists?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-e-weick/if-people-have-multiple-identities-and-deal-with-multiple-realities/) [Karl E. Weick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-e-weick/) > [I have multiple identities, never mind ethnically but in other respects... and it's even worse when they try to do it by reference to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuka-umunna/i-have-multiple-identities-never-mind-ethnically-but-in-other/) [Chuka Umunna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuka-umunna/) > [When I was growing up, Forest Park was full of integrated families. It was amazing. One my best friends was Vietnamese. Another one was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinaw-mengestu/when-i-was-growing-up-forest-park-was-full-of-integrated-families-it/) [Dinaw Mengestu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinaw-mengestu/) > [When you're in your twenties, it's the last time you have the chance to experiment with multiple identities, to decide who you're going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irvine-welsh/when-you-re-in-your-twenties-it-s-the-last-time-you-have-the-chance/) [Irvine Welsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irvine-welsh/) > [People have multiple identities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-p-huntington/people-have-multiple-identities/) [Samuel P. Huntington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-p-huntington/) > [“Chus Martinez is a transsexual collective phantom. Anybody can be Chus Martinez!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chus-martinez/chus-martinez-is-a-transsexual-collective-phantom-anybody-can-be-chus/) Chus Martinez > [Each and every one of us has multiple identities, and this is a fact that should be celebrated. I for example, am a queer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrisse-cullors/each-and-every-one-of-us-has-multiple-identities-and-this-is-a-fact/) [Patrisse Cullors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrisse-cullors/) > [For many people it's Facebook, or sports on TV, whatever it is. I have my own demons that I battle. But whatever they are,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/for-many-people-it-s-facebook-or-sports-on-tv-whatever-it-is-i-have/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) ## More by Gloria E. Anzaldúa > [The U.S.-Mexican border es un herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds. And before a scab forms it hemorrhages…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/the-u-s-mexican-border-es-un-herida-abierta-where-the-third-world/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [A woman who writes has power, and a woman with power is feared.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/a-woman-who-writes-has-power-and-a-woman-with-power-is-feared/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent's tongue - my woman's voice, my sexual voice, my poet's voice.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/i-will-have-my-voice-indian-spanish-white-i-will-have-my-serpent-s/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [Nothing happens in the 'real' world unless it first happens in the images in our heads](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/nothing-happens-in-the-real-world-unless-it-first-happens-in-the/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [In trying to become 'objective,' Western culture made 'objects' of things and people when it distanced itself from them, thereby losing 'touch' with them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/in-trying-to-become-objective-western-culture-made-objects-of-things/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [The Gringo, locked into the fiction of white superiority, seized complete political power, stripping Indians and Mexicans of their land while their feet were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/the-gringo-locked-into-the-fiction-of-white-superiority-seized/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [Write in the kitchen, lock yourself up in the bathroom. Write on the bus or the welfare line, on the job or during meals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/write-in-the-kitchen-lock-yourself-up-in-the-bathroom-write-on-the/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [We are taught that the body is an ignorant animal intelligence dwells only in the head. But the body is smart. It does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/we-are-taught-that-the-body-is-an-ignorant-animal-intelligence-dwells/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [To separate from my culture (as from my family) I had to feel competent enough on the outside and secure enough inside to live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/to-separate-from-my-culture-as-from-my-family-i-had-to-feel-competent/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [the world I create in writing compensates for what the real world does not give me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/the-world-i-create-in-writing-compensates-for-what-the-real-world/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [I am visible-see this Indian face-yet I am invisible. I both blind them with my beak nose and am their blind spot. But I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/i-am-visible-see-this-indian-face-yet-i-am-invisible-i-both-blind/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [By writing I put order in the world, give it a handle so I can grasp it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/by-writing-i-put-order-in-the-world-give-it-a-handle-so-i-can-grasp-it/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [Books saved my sanity, knowledge opened the locked places in me and taught me first how to survive and then how to soar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/books-saved-my-sanity-knowledge-opened-the-locked-places-in-me-and/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [The act of writing is the act of making soul, alchemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/the-act-of-writing-is-the-act-of-making-soul-alchemy/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [Write with your eyes like painters, with your ears like musicians, with your feet like dancers. You are the truthsayer with quill and torch.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/write-with-your-eyes-like-painters-with-your-ears-like-musicians-with/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) [Explore all 31 Gloria E. Anzaldúa quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) ## More Aliens quotes > [My days – the blossom of my youth and the flower of my manhood – have been darkened by the dreariness of servitude. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-o-connell/my-days-the-blossom-of-my-youth-and-the-flower-of-my-manhood-have/) [Daniel O'Connell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-o-connell/) > [Ay-firmative,' Eve said, and tried for a smile. 'Sorry. An Aliens reference always makes me feel better at times like this. Exept I'm not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-caine/ay-firmative-eve-said-and-tried-for-a-smile-sorry-an-aliens-reference/) [Rachel Caine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-caine/) > [You gonna take the case?" It's not a case. It's a missing person. Sort of." You're gonna have a devil of a time finding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-evanovich/you-gonna-take-the-case-it-s-not-a-case-it-s-a-missing-person-sort-of/) [Janet Evanovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-evanovich/) > [Ancient eyes had stared at me, filled with ancient grief. And something more. Something so alien and unexpected that I'd almost burst into tears.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/ancient-eyes-had-stared-at-me-filled-with-ancient-grief-and-something/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [Joel Lane documents a life we don’t quite live, in a city we can’t quite find: half glimpsed and half imagined, we know it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaz-brenchley/joel-lane-documents-a-life-we-don-t-quite-live-in-a-city-we-can-t/) Chaz Brenchley > [Emma was a shocking driver, simultaneously sloppy and petrified, and for the first fifty miles had been absent-mindedly driving with her spectacles on top…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-nicholls/emma-was-a-shocking-driver-simultaneously-sloppy-and-petrified-and/) [David Nicholls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-nicholls/) > [Humans suffer from self-centred notions as to the nature of life. Humans assume that alien life forms should conform to standards that match our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-perry/humans-suffer-from-self-centred-notions-as-to-the-nature-of-life/) [Steve Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-perry/) > [If you're going to immerse yourself in a project for three years, why not stake out a chunk of the world that is completely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-powers/if-you-re-going-to-immerse-yourself-in-a-project-for-three-years-why/) [Richard Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-powers/) > [I'm not a fan of any genre but am a fan of movies that are intelligent and/or funny. That goes across all genres: a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-m-not-a-fan-of-any-genre-but-am-a-fan-of-movies-that-are/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The respect for human rights, essential if we are to use technology wisely, is not something alien that must be grafted onto science. On…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-charles-polanyi/the-respect-for-human-rights-essential-if-we-are-to-use-technology/) [John Charles Polanyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-charles-polanyi/) > [“Intellectualism is a poor master over passion”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twe-stephens/intellectualism-is-a-poor-master-over-passion/) Twe Stephens > [Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/robin-williams-was-an-airman-a-doctor-a-genie-a-nanny-a-president-a/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Evangelicals are distraught over the state of America because they have not been taught that we're aliens here.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-piper/evangelicals-are-distraught-over-the-state-of-america-because-they/) [John Piper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-piper/) > [Even the Supreme Court, back when it used to makes sense, the Supreme Court has never ruled that a baby born to illegal aliens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/even-the-supreme-court-back-when-it-used-to-makes-sense-the-supreme/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [Some pundits have proposed that the aliens have come here to breed with us. Apparently, too much bike riding or something similar has rendered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-shostak/some-pundits-have-proposed-that-the-aliens-have-come-here-to-breed/) [Seth Shostak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-shostak/) [Browse all 1,329 Aliens quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aliens/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one's shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new element, an \"alien\" element.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gloria E. 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