I think one of the paradoxes of writing fiction is when people enjoy it, they want it to be real. So they look for connections. Junot Diaz More Quotes by Junot Diaz More Quotes From Junot Diaz When I became my masked identity I was this incredible little nerd, but in the real world I had to be this tough kid from the neighborhood. Junot Diaz nerd real kids When I read Toni Morrison and Sandra Cisneros as a freshman at Rutgers, it all clicked - that writing was all I wanted to do. It became my calling. Junot Diaz freshman calling writing We're on speaking terms today. I say, Maybe we should hang out with the boys, and you shake your head. I want to spend time with you, you say. If we're still good, next week maybe. That's the most we can hope for. Nothing thrown, nothing said that we might remember for years. You watch me while you put a brush through your hair. Each strand that breaks is as long as my arm. You don't want to let go, but don't want to be hurt, either. It's not a great place to be but what can I tell you? Junot Diaz hurt letting-go boys In another universe I probably came out OK, ended up with mad novias and jobs and a sea of love in which to swim, but in this world I had a brother who was dying of cancer and a long dark patch of life like a mile of black ice waiting for me up ahead. Junot Diaz cancer brother jobs Nobody likes children, your mother assured you. That doesn't mean you don't have them. Junot Diaz mother mean children It was like being at the bottom of an ocean, she said. There was no light and a whole ocean crushing down on you. But most people had gotten so used to it they thought it normal, they forgot even that there was a world above. Junot Diaz crush ocean light Nilda is watching the ground as though she's afraid she might fall. My heart is beating and I think, We could do anything. We could marry. We could drive off to the West Coast. We could start over. It's all possible but neither of us speaks for a long time and the moment closes and we're back in the world we've always known. Junot Diaz heart fall thinking Out of nowhere you said, I love you. For whatever it's worth. Junot Diaz said love-you You never forget the discovery years. First kisses. The first time you try certain foods. Junot Diaz kissing discovery years Once someone gets a little escape velocity going, ain't no play in the world that will keep them from leaving. Junot Diaz leaving play world Love is the great test of the human. The human is tested by our ability to withstand love. Love is so difficult, it is so challenging, it demands of us that we wreck it with ourselves. It demands of us an honesty that few of us could sustain. Junot Diaz honesty challenges love-is I can see myself watching him shave every morning. And at other time I see us in that house and see how one bright day (or a day like this, so cold your mind shifts every time the wind does) he will wake up and decide it's all wrong. I'm sorry, he'll say. I have to leave now. Junot Diaz sorry morning wind It's just a matter of willpower. The day you decide it's over, it's over. You never get over it. Junot Diaz willpower over-you matter She had reason to doubt him; he was real good at planning but real bad at doing. Junot Diaz planning real doubt Our relationship wasn't the sun, the moon, the stars, but it wasn't bullshit, either. Junot Diaz bullshit stars moon I write incredibly slowly. And, on top of that, I spent my entire youth and twenties working like a dog, so one of the things that happened when I finished Drown was that I got busy living. I'd never travelled, I'd never seen anything. So I did as much travelling as my job teaching would allow. Junot Diaz teaching dog jobs Because I can't seem to escape it. It's a way for me to address and counter my questions about what it means to be human, or, in my case a Dominican human who grew up in New Jersey. Junot Diaz addresses writing mean I just want some space to myself every now and then. Every time I’m with you I have this sense that you want something from me. Junot Diaz want-something space want I never wanted to be away from the family. Intuitively, I knew how easily distances could harden and become permanent. Junot Diaz distance permanent wanted You think people hate a fat person? Try a fat person who's trying to get thin. Junot Diaz bullying hate thinking
