The point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on. Julia Alvarez More Quotes by Julia Alvarez More Quotes From Julia Alvarez Each of us will have to make the choices that allow us to be the largest versions of ourselves. Julia Alvarez versions choices It's like my whole world is coming undone, but when I write, my pencil is a needle and thread, and I'm stitching the scraps back together. Julia Alvarez together writing world A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart. Julia Alvarez historical heart way I write to find out what I am thinking. Julia Alvarez who-i-am writing thinking A book does not discriminate against any reader. All are welcome at the table of literature. Julia Alvarez literature doe book Don't plan it all. Let life surprise you a little. Julia Alvarez plans surprise littles Everyone needs a strong sense of self. It is our base of operations for everything that we do in life. Julia Alvarez strong self needs As a young writer, I was on guard against the Latina in me, the Spanish in me because as far as I could see the models that were presented to me did not include my world. In fact, 'I was told by one teacher in college that one could only write poetry in the language in which one first said Mother. That left me out of American literature, for sure. Julia Alvarez mother writing teacher For me, the writing life doesn't just happen when I sit at the writing desk. It is a life lived with a centering principle, and mine is this: that I will pay close attention to this world I find myself in. 'My heart keeps open house,' was the way the poet Theodore Roethke put it in a poem. And rendering in language what one sees through the opened windows and doors of that house is a way of bearing witness to the mystery of what it is to be alive in this world. Julia Alvarez heart writing doors I admit that for me love goes deeper than the struggle, or maybe what I mean is, love is the deeper struggle. Julia Alvarez struggle love-is mean Schools provide safe spaces to talk about controversial issues, and literature presents characters portraying human experience in all its richness and contradictoriness. Julia Alvarez issues character school I grew up in a dictatorship, where you couldn't talk about difficult situations - there was this culture of silence. We would run into a problem and have no one to talk to. Julia Alvarez difficult-situations silence running Every writer can tell you that a book is only truly alive when it finds passionate readers who bring it alive in their imaginations. Julia Alvarez passionate imagination book But the sensibility of the writer, whether fiction or poetry, comes from paying attention. I tell my students that writing doesn't begin when you sit down to write. It's a way of being in the world, and the essence of it is paying attention. Julia Alvarez essence writing world The elasticity of imagination and compassion is what writing and reading promote. Julia Alvarez compassion reading writing There is no end to what can be said about the world Julia Alvarez ends said world How we lie to ourselves when we've fallen in love with the wrong man. Julia Alvarez dating men lying When we read, even if the characters are tragic or sad or disturbing, these are our brothers and sisters in the human family. Julia Alvarez tragic brother character Reading is a way to take in the difficult situations and understand them. The whole point of reading a book in class is to have discussion about what these situations are like. Julia Alvarez difficult-situations reading book Reading and thoughtfulness and openness are the best way, I should think, to begin to address the richness that is in each of us. Julia Alvarez addresses reading thinking
