"These days, it feels to me like you make a devil's pact when you walk into this country. You hand over your passport at the check-in, you get stamped, you want to make a little money, get yourself started... but you mean to go back! Who would want to stay? Cold, wet, miserable; terrible food, dreadful newspapers - who would want to stay? In a place where you are never welcomed, only tolerated. Just tolerated. Like you are an animal finally house-trained."

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Source: Zadie Smith (2001). “White Teeth”, p.413, Penguin UK

About the author

Zadie Smith

Novelist, Essayist

Zadie Smith is a British novelist known for her exploration of race, identity, and multiculturalism in works like 'White Teeth'.

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