I'm a mongrel in the sense that I'm Spanish, English, Latino, Jewish, north, south - all these things are mixed in me.

Responsibility without power, the fate of the secretary through the ages.

We can live with lots of things, but we can't live without imagination, we can't live without hope.

Those who have never suffered the iniquities of exile cannot possibly understand the significance, the gravitas, of a mattress.

You can survive with anger, but you can't live with it forever.

We live in the age of the refugee, the age of the exile.

I'm the most communal person that exists and a very solitary person. So I think writing is a form of getting to the community and being alone, and it's the best of both possible worlds.

There's a tendency, especially among revolutionaries, to only show the good side of yourself and then when you come to power, the bad side comes out.

I don't believe in God, but I believe in angels.

Most writers who leave their country physically have already left it mentally and emotionally.

This America has been the country of greed rather than the country of need.

I was with book, as a woman is with child.

I shall keep my book on the table here, and read a little every morning as soon as I wake, for I know it will do me good, and help me through the day.

It was very relaxing to be away from civilization, and this bothered me. I should not have found the loneliness so welcoming.

The past will only catch you, if you ran from it to begin with.

The first step to solving your problem is admitting that you have one.

There is no perfect time to write. There is only now.

Having talent isn't merely about being competent; confidence is actually a part of that talent.

Nobody's life is interesting enough to warrant a third memoir.

Cause when I'm with him I am thinking of you.

So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts.