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" I liked the books I read that said things like 'I shan't'. I would try to find a way to say in my life, to reply, 'I shan't do that, mother.' That was so far away from my barrio world. "

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" Sometimes I feel I can't quite master my written and spoken Spanish, because I'm too much a student of English. I would need another lifetime to learn it. "

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" I am a woman, and I am a Latina. Those are the things that make my writing distinctive. Those are the things that give my writing power. "

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" But I deal with this meditating and by understanding I've been put on the planet to serve humanity. I have to remind myself to live simply and not to overindulge, which is a constant battle in a material world. "

" Mexico is only a memory of childhood safety. "

" I think people should read fairy tales, because we're hungry for a mythology that will speak to our fears. "

" I've always read broadly: literary fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, chick lit, historical, dystopian, nonfiction, memoir. I've even read Westerns. I prefer female protagonists. "

" I was a terrible student. Still, I managed to get into college, but my daydreaming threatened to sabotage me. I used behavior modification to break the cycle. I started by setting an arbitrary time limit on studying: for every 15 minutes of study, I'd allow myself an hour of daydreaming. I set the alarm. "

" I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog. "

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" I spent my thirties living out of boxes and moving every six months to a year. It was my cloud period: I just wandered like a cloud for ten years, following the food supply. I was a hunter, gatherer, an academic migrant. "

" Revenge only engenders violence, not clarity and true peace. I think liberation must come from within. "

" My father always defined my gender to my brothers. He'd say, 'This is your sister; you must take care of her.' "

" Writing is like sewing together what I call these 'buttons,' these bits and pieces. "

Sandra Cisneros

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Buttons

" My feminism is humanism, with the weakest being those who I represent, and that includes many beings and life forms, including some men. "

" The more you speak more languages, the more you understand about yourself. "

Sandra Cisneros

You

Speak

" I realize that when I moved out of my father's house I shocked and frightened him because I needed a room of my own, a space of my own to reinvent myself. "

" The older I get, the more I'm conscious of ways very small things can make a change in the world. Tiny little things, but the world is made up of tiny matters, isn't it? "

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" Once people are not here physically, the spiritual remains. We still connect, we can communicate, we can give and receive love and forgiveness. There is love after someone dies. "

" I usually say Latina, Mexican-American or American Mexican, and in certain contexts, Chicana, depending on whether my audience understands the term or not. "

" I was silent as a child, and silenced as a young woman; I am taking my lumps and bumps for being a big mouth, now, but usually from those whose opinion I don't respect. "

" All of my work is influenced by fairy tales, and I hope my work shows Hans Christian Anderson's influence. "

" I try to be as honest about what I see and to speak rather than be silent, especially if it means I can save lives, or serve humanity. "

" One press account said I was an overnight success. I thought that was the longest night I've ever spent. "

" And the nice thing about writing a novel is you take your time, you sit with the character sometimes nine years, you look very deeply at a situation, unlike in real life when we just kind of snap something out. "