I had to leave home so I could find myself, find my own intrinsic nature buried under the personality that had been imposed on me.

A woman who writes has power, and a woman with power is feared.

What we say and what we do ultimately comes back to us so let us own our responsibility, place it in our hands, and carry it with dignity and strength.

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.

Books saved my sanity, knowledge opened the locked places in me and taught me first how to survive and then how to soar.

Though we tremble before uncertain futures may we meet illness, death and adversity with strength may we dance in the face of our fears.

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. I will overcome the tradition of silence.

Nothing happens in the 'real' world unless it first happens in the images in our heads

I am playing with my Self, I am playing with the world's soul, I am the dialogue between my Self and el espiritu del mundo. I change myself, I change the world.

I change myself, I change the world.

To survive the Borderlands you must live sin fronteras be a crossroads.

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.

A multitude of words is probably the most formidable means of blurring and obscuring thought. There is no thought, however momentous, that cannot be expressed lucidly in 200 words.

Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.

We are ashamed of our fear; for we know that a righteous man would not suspect danger nor incur any. Wherever a man feels fear, there is an avenger.

The fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength

I'm a Giants fan through and through. I am crazy about Eli Manning. I'm all about the Giants.

Essentially, wines are fermented grape juice, so I'm trying to make the point that the wine world is about scores and marketing and kind of creating a scarce resource where they don't really exist.

It's easier to write about a place sometimes when you've left it, when you can apply your imagination to your memory and let your emotions guide the writing about a place.

Was I wearing my 'I'm done with my virginity, please get rid of it for me' T-shirt?

When it comes to dressing, comfort is overrated. A little discomfort probably means your clothes fit and they're not pajamas.