I'm not afraid to say what I'm afraid of. Does that make me fearless? Sandra Cisneros More Quotes by Sandra Cisneros More Quotes From Sandra Cisneros Get yourself empty in the Eastern sense. Not in the Western sense. In the Western sense when we feel empty we feel lonely, miserable, but in the Eastern sense - "I'm so empty, because I'm filled with everything, and I'm connected to everything." It's very energizing. You want that kind of emptiness, whatever you have to do to get yourself quiet. Sandra Cisneros emptinesslonelywant Believe me, that nap is better than sitting there for three hours and nothing's coming. I've learned that even if I've slept nine hours and I just finished breakfast, if I feel sleepy when I'm in front of that computer, I'll take a nap. And it really does help. Sandra Cisneros threenapsbelieve It's so good for your health to take those naps. I don't know why people brag that they sleep five hours. I'd be ashamed. I'm proud that I sleep nine hours. Sandra Cisneros napssleeppeople People want you to be the ambassador of everything. This happens to me especially when I go to Europe. I have to be the ambassador of everything. I learned this from Elena Poniatowska - intelligent woman, great lady, one of my heroes, one of my spiritual mentors, I love her. Someone is in this big museum and they ask her, "Elenita, what do you think about Mexican women . . ." And she says, "I haven't a clue!" Sandra Cisneros intelligentherospiritual Mice and any rodentia. Guinea pigs. Even rabbits, I can't stand. Rabbits are cousins to rats. It's a class thing. If you had to grow up with rats scampering in your backyard, because the city services were cut in half and the population in your neighborhood doubled, then that also is going to mean that the flora and fauna are going to grow as well. So that's a part of it. That's why I can't go to Hindu countries where they respect rats and mice, and I can't go camping. Sandra Cisneros cousingrowing-upcountry When I was writing Caramelo the last couple of years, a sixty-hour work week was normal. And now I'm lucky if I have eight hours. Sandra Cisneros couplewritingyears You don't have to be the specialist on everything. You can try to inform yourself. Sandra Cisneros specialiststrying My book would come out in one language, then it would come out in another language, then it would come out in One City, One Read, and I was always being called away from my desk. Sandra Cisneros languagecitiesbook I've come to some balance now and calmness. If anything happened to me and I got hit by a bus - I hope this doesn't happen, but if something happened - my body of work is something I could rest on. I don't feel, "Oh God, I have to hurry up . . ." Sandra Cisneros calmnessbalancebody Now I feel life is really short and I have to take care of things. Sandra Cisneros really-shortcarelife-is I don't like to go into subways, because I always see them [ mice]. They are like my naguales [kindred animal spirits]. They follow me. I have literally stepped off of a plane in Phoenix and gotten my bag and stepped out on the curb and they'll be a big desert rat walking right in front of me. Sandra Cisneros phoenixdesertanimal The ability to be present with every single person and engage was a great model for me of the work that a writer needs to do. Writers, living or dead, still guide me in many ways. Sandra Cisneros guideswayneeds I learned when I was a student in Connecticut. I had an Italian-American teacher who gave me classes for a week, and then said, "Okay, you're ready." And I wasn't ready. I didn't know how to drive!. But he knew the policeman who gave the test. And that's how I got through. Sandra Cisneros italianclassteacher If we were multilingual, imagine how much you would learn about your own culture, about the sensibilities of what's important in your own culture. Sandra Cisneros imagineimportantculture When I lost my father, I thought I learned about grief and transition. However, nobody tells you what it's like to lose your mother. They don't tell you that you're going to feel like an orphan at whatever age you are as an adult. Sandra Cisneros griefmotherfather We tend to think of orphans as being the protagonist of stories we read when we're kids, and yet here you are: you're an adult, you're supposed to manage, you're supposed to get over it, you're supposed to go on with your life, and you feel like a lost child. Sandra Cisneros kidschildrenthinking Afterwards, people come and say, "I felt like you said that just to me. What you said is something I'm going through right now," so you know that spiritual connection is going on. Sandra Cisneros connectionsspiritualpeople I think one of the great primordial fears we have once we become conscious of our aloneness as children is the fear of losing our mother. We have that from the moment we realize we can lose her just in the supermarket. As a child, it was more terrifying than arithmetic. Sandra Cisneros motherchildrenthinking Spanish is a poetic language, in particular the Spanish of Mexico which has a wonderful animistic attitude you might not see in the Spanish of the peninsula. I think it has to do with the indigenous way of looking at nature. Sandra Cisneros attitudewaythinking Each book gets harder, each book gets harder and harder. I always feel like crying when I have to write. Sandra Cisneros crywritingbook
