There's no perfect place, there's no wonderful utopia. Sandra Cisneros More Quotes by Sandra Cisneros More Quotes From Sandra Cisneros Perhaps the greatest challenge has been trying to keep my time to myself and my private life private in order to do my job. Everything that is most mine belongs to everyone now. Sandra Cisneros challengesjobsorder 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? Sandra Cisneros matterlittlesworld Every book changes my writing because I'm always trying to do something I didn't do before. I try to do what's hard for me, what I haven't done in the past. Sandra Cisneros writingbookpast When I was a child, I was very shy, and there's still a part of me that's very shy. Sandra Cisneros shystillschildren 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. Sandra Cisneros piecescolorroots The only reason we write - well, the only reason why I write; maybe I shouldn't generalize - is so that I can find out something about myself. Writers have this narcissistic obsession about how we got to be who we are. I have to understand my ancestors - my father, his mother and her mother - to understand who I am. It all leads back to the narcissistic pleasure of discovering yourself. Sandra Cisneros motherwritingfather Heartbreak allows us to also experience joy and love but you have to walk through heartbreak to even know what joy is. Heartbreak is a constant and it is even necessary. It allows us the opportunity of introspection and exploration. Those processes are what is necessary to write and engage in the arts. Sandra Cisneros writingopportunityart Your prospective employer, or the person you have a crush on, or the person you want to talk to. You're judging yourself, you know, thinking about your listener. You're not thinking about what you're saying. And that same thing happens when you write. Sandra Cisneros thinking-about-youcrushwriting There are many Latino writers as talented as I am, but because we are published through small presses, our books don't count. We are still the illegal aliens of the literary world. Sandra Cisneros aliensbookworld Write about what makes you different. Sandra Cisneros differentinspirationwriting Like all guests, after a fortnight, grief is best beyond the door. Sandra Cisneros guestsgriefdoors Maybe all pain in the world requires poetry. Sandra Cisneros painworld I began writing as an experimental writer. Sandra Cisneros writing I'm most tired after I read, after I've just done a performance, but what I try to do is to fuel and eat a really healthy meal before I perform. I want to have enough energy to talk to that last person. Sandra Cisneros tiredhealthytrying If you just breathe, and go slower, you will have enough energy. It's really important because there are people who wait in line, and your work has changed their lives. You will need to listen to them because they are also going to feed you and give you confirmation of the prayer you asked before you spoke. Sandra Cisneros prayergivingpeople As Indigenous peoples, we know there is more to the world. We know spirits exist. We know as women, because we're especially attuned to this kind of knowledge, that spirits exist and have a presence in our lives. Some of us are gifted and can communicate with the spirit world. Not everyone has that gift and can perceive the borders between the living and the dead and our society actively discourages us of exploring the knowledge of what many of us have already always known in our cultures. Sandra Cisneros borderscultureworld My feminism is humanism, with the weakest being those who I represent, and that includes many beings and life forms, including some men. Sandra Cisneros feminismfeministmen I usually say Latina, Mexican-American or American Mexican, and in certain contexts, Chicana, depending on whether my audience understands the term or not. Sandra Cisneros latinamexicancertain Before you speak, get very quiet, do the meditation, say, "Use me as a channel for what needs to get said to this community. This community needs to hear something very important that I'm the only person in the room who can say it. Please help open me so that I'm not frightened and speak through me. Let me be that channel so that I can help heal." You make yourself so humble that you really are like a flute and that music that comes out comes from el corazón. All the people you're connected to from that light that we call love. Sandra Cisneros lighthumblepeople [Courage] always bigger than what you think you can handle, but you're never going to be given something you can't handle. So you say, "Okay, when you tell me what it is that I'm supposed to do, please give me the courage to do it." Sandra Cisneros biggergivingthinking
