Last Updated on 18th January 2023 by Sophie Nadeau
Between diving into a new culture, indulging in a new cuisine, and sometimes even learning a new language, moving to a new country is all about changing almost every aspect of your life. And if you’re thinking about moving to a new country yourself, then here are quotes about living abroad that will inspire a move!
Growing up, my family moved around fairly often for my parents’ work and so we ended up living abroad several times. As an adult, I’ve been lucky enough to take the plunge, pack my bags once more, and move for work, the interest in learning a new language, and for the love of travel.
It’s an experience that can at times be challenging but has also led me to some of the best experiences of my life, and even finding a husband! For more about my experience, you can check out what I learned from living in Paris. And for more inspiration, check out the best quotes about travel.
Quotes about living abroad
“If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food. It’s a plus for everybody”. – Anthony Bourdain
“Ordinary life does not interest me”. – Anais Nin
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“All great changes are preceded by chaos”. – Deepak Chopra
“Live abroad, if you can. Understand cultures other than your own. As your understanding of other cultures increases, your understanding of yourself and your own culture will increase exponentially”. – Tom Freston
“And then there is the most dangerous risk of all–the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later”. – Randy Komisar
“Splendid to arrive alone in a foreign country and feel the assault of difference. Here they are all along, busy with living; they don’t talk or look like me. The rhythm of their day is entirely different; I am foreign”. – Frances Mayes
“Loving life is easy when you are abroad. Where no one knows you and you hold your life in your hands all alone, you are more master of yourself than at any other time”. – Hannah Arendt
“The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind”. – Anthony Bourdain
“You’re never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream”. – C.S. Lewis
“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from”. – Seth Godin
“Our homes are not defined by geography or one particular location, but by memories, events, people, and places that span the globe”. – Marilyn Gardner
“I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again”. – Bill Bryson
“What I found appealing in life abroad was the inevitable sense of helplessness it would inspire. Equally exciting would be the work involved in overcoming that helplessness. There would be a goal involved, and I liked having goals”. – David Sedaris
“When overseas, you learn more about your own country than you do the place you’re visiting”. – Clint Borgen
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition”. – Steve Jobs
“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed is you”. – Eric Roth
“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did”. – Mark Twain
“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun”. – Christopher McCandless
“And suddenly you just know… it’s time to start something new and trust in the magic of new beginnings”. – Meister Ekhart
“You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That’s the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place”. – Miriam Adeney
“Expats who can only criticize the country in which they choose to live are like a sailor who demands the wind blows only according to his skill”. – Tony Crossley
“The ideal place for me is the one in which it is most natural to live as a foreigner”. – Italo Calvin
“Giving up on the drive to succeed is a good part of what being an expat is all about. If you travel all the way to the Caribbean Sea, you probably have already decided to trade the dog-eat-dog competition of modern living for a hammock on the sand”. – Anthony Lee Head
“Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere”. – Isabelle Eberhardt
“The loneliness of the expatriate is of an odd and complicated kind, for it is inseparable from the feeling of being free, of having escaped”. – Adam Gopnik
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. – Lao Tzu
“What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies”. – Jack Kerouac
“Every dreamer knows that it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you’ve never been to, perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground”. – Judith Thurman