'Hispanic' is English for a person of Latino origin who wants to be accepted by the white status quo. 'Latino' is the word we have always used for ourselves.

I've put up with too much, too long, and now I'm just too intelligent, too powerful, too beautiful, too sure of who I am finally to deserve anything less.

I am obsessed with becoming a woman comfortable in her skin.

My weapon has always been language, and I've always used it, but it has changed. Instead of shaping the words like knives now, I think they're flowers, or bridges.

You can't erase what you know. You can't forget who you are.

The beauty of literature is you allow readers to see things through other peoples eyes. All good books do this.

If you know two cultures and two languages, that intermediate place, where the two don't perfectly meet, is really interesting.

People know when you're speaking from el corazón. You have that pain. Take that pain and do something with it. That's very powerful.

The world we live in is a house on fire and the people we love are burning.

You don't want somebody who doesn't know his own heart, do you? You'll find someone who's brave enough to love you. Someday. One day. Not today.

You can never have too much sky.

Be with someone who inspires you and makes you be the best version of yourself.

Occasionally you can hear her howl, when the sky is black and the moon is full.

She shoved her hands in the deep silk-lined pockets…where she felt the cold steel of a revolver.

Knowledge is not necessary for obedience, nor doth information replace faith. El hast commanded. We shall obey

Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.

I love Fear Factor, but I think they're running out of fears. It's only a matter of time before they're sitting around doing shots of Hepatitis C.

Caring for others is an expression of what it means to be fully human.

She was not an adventure, she was not a fine and precious thing. She was a girl.

The past is a place you can learn from, not a place you want to live.

Read! Read something every day. Discipline yourself to a regular schedule of reading. In fifteen minutes a day you can read twenty books a year.