I hope I'm not just looked as a writer that is popular but as a writer of literary value.

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.

'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.

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.

I wanted to forgive my mom and my dad so badly for the deep hurt they caused, the fear their broken marriage invoked in me, but I also didn’t want to pretend anymore. Pretending is exhausting.

A journey through nature is always a road thatleads to self-discovery.

With just one musician, you can really do an unlimited number of things on the inside of the piano, if you have at your disposal an exploded keyboard.

Legalized gambling cost taxpayers $3 for every $1 in state revenue to government

I used to play the piano when I was younger, and I loved Alicia Keys. I wanted to be Alicia Keys; she was such an idol to me.

A bizarre sensation pervades a relationship of pretense. No truth seems true.

My address is like my shoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong.

My God, how can anyone ever be a master of music?

Pin thy faith to no man's sleeve. Hast thou not two eyes of thy own?

I do believe that what I have called populist democracy is to be preferred to what I have called elitist democracy.