"Well, it gives, certainly to my father, who is the one that suffered the most in our family, and understanding of how the ideals of a country are only as good as the people who give it flesh and blood"
About this Quote
The context is hard to miss: Takei’s family was incarcerated in U.S. internment camps during World War II, a policy sold as national security and later recognized as a grave civil-liberties failure. When he talks about “the ideals of a country,” he’s invoking the American script: freedom, due process, equality. But he immediately punctures any comforting myth that those ideals are self-enforcing. “Only as good as the people who give it flesh and blood” turns patriotism into a bodily metaphor, with an unsettling edge. Ideals aren’t marble statutes; they’re living tissue, dependent on ordinary decisions by voters, judges, neighbors, and bureaucrats. People don’t just uphold principles; they animate them or starve them.
The subtext is a warning aimed at the present: democratic values can be invoked while they’re being hollowed out. By rooting that warning in his father’s suffering, Takei pushes against the temptation to treat history as settled or ceremonial. The intent isn’t nostalgia; it’s accountability. If ideals require “flesh and blood,” then the bill comes due in real bodies when a country decides it can live without them.
Quote Details
| Topic | Father |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Takei, George. (2026, January 17). Well, it gives, certainly to my father, who is the one that suffered the most in our family, and understanding of how the ideals of a country are only as good as the people who give it flesh and blood. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-it-gives-certainly-to-my-father-who-is-the-54045/
Chicago Style
Takei, George. "Well, it gives, certainly to my father, who is the one that suffered the most in our family, and understanding of how the ideals of a country are only as good as the people who give it flesh and blood." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-it-gives-certainly-to-my-father-who-is-the-54045/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Well, it gives, certainly to my father, who is the one that suffered the most in our family, and understanding of how the ideals of a country are only as good as the people who give it flesh and blood." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-it-gives-certainly-to-my-father-who-is-the-54045/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
