Write about what makes you different.

Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.

For me, education means to inspire people to live more abundantly, to learn to begin with life as they find it and make it better.

The mere imparting of information is not education. Above all things, the effort must result in making a man think and do for himself.

When I was a child, I was very shy, and there's still a part of me that's very shy.

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

The stories are what no one wants to talk about. So you make up a story because no one is going to tell you the truth.

All of my works are performance pieces, as is true for many writers of color, writers who have indigenous roots - because our basis is spoken word.

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.

I do travel a lot, because I need oxygen, I need to go to places to meet people who aren't upset at me because I'm asking for peace.

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.

Maybe all pain in the world requires poetry.

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

I believe love is always eternal. Even if eternity is only five minutes.

The border between the dead and the living, if you're Mexican, doesn't exist. The dead are part of your life.

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 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.

Books are medicine and you have to take the right medicine that you need at that moment or that day or that time in your life.

The ego's blocking the light from coming.