I was reading all these male writers who were doing wild and wonderful things. It gave me permission to experiment.

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.

Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.

I havent mastered the art of sitting and smiling.

I believe we must be strong militarily, but beyond a certain point military strength can become a national weakness.

Events are never absolute, their outcome depends entirely upon the individual.

Picasso said that everything is a miracle, that it's a miracle that we don't dissolve in our baths.

Make me like a little child, Simple, teachable, and mild; Seeing only in Thy light; Walking only in Thy might!

As soon as we get out of our urban shell, we're still at the mercy of nature as individuals.

The most confused we ever get is when we're trying to convince our heads of something our heart knows is a lie.

Forgiveness is a gift to myself. I forgive, and I set myself free.

The flood of time is rolling on; We stand upon its brink, whilst they are gone To glide in peace down death's mysterious stream. Have ye done well?