Those of us who are writers and have to perform to communities that aren't used to coming to book events, I would recommend taking some theater. Sandra Cisneros More Quotes by Sandra Cisneros More Quotes From Sandra Cisneros I feel comfortable in Spanish, I chat like a parrot, but I don't have the confidence in Spanish that I do in English. Sandra Cisneros parrotscomfortablefeels I like to think about the bestseller list as, "This is the medicine cabinet of a very sick country." Let me look and see what they're reading that isn't nourishing them. Sandra Cisneros readingcountrythinking And the nice thing about writing a novel is you take your time, you sit with the character sometimes nine years, you look very deeply at a situation, unlike in real life when we just kind of snap something out. Sandra Cisneros nicerealcharacter I think diseases have no eyes. They pick with a dizzy finger anyone, just anyone. Sandra Cisneros diseaseeyethinking My Virgen de Guadalupe is not the mother of God. She is God. She is a face for a god without a face, an indigena for a god without ethnicity, a female deity for a god who is genderless, but I also understand that for her to approach me, for me to finally open the door and accept her, she had to be a woman like me. Sandra Cisneros ethnicitymotherdoors I tell people to write the stories that you're afraid to talk about, the stories you wish you'd forget, because those have the most power. Those are the ones that have the most strength when you give them as a testimony. Sandra Cisneros writinggivingpeople [Writing is like fishing]. You don't bow because you made the fish. That's the difference. If you know that, then you bow for your labor.You crafted, you worked, you put in those hours so that you could catch that fish. But you didn't make that fish. You just caught the fish. That will help you stay humble and bow for the right reason and be very lucid about the work you do. Sandra Cisneros fishinghumblewriting The ego's blocking the light from coming. Sandra Cisneros egoblocklight As an artist, I have to be the ambassador of everything. Sandra Cisneros ambassadorsartist I think of reading as like a medicine cabinet. Sandra Cisneros medicinereadingthinking I can't hang around with lots of people these days because I am hypersensitive. So when I am around a lot of people or a big roomful of people I get almost autistic. I get overwhelmed and really tired. So I don't like being around large groups. Sandra Cisneros groupstiredpeople In the past I was very open and very generous, and I found that it just exploded in my face. A lot of people weren't there for me when I needed them. So I have become a little shell shocked. Subsequently almost paranoid and frightened of people now. Maybe I'm losing out in meeting some marvelous people, but I am doing the only thing I can to save my spirit. Sandra Cisneros littlespeoplepast I feel like I am in a box of bees when I am in a room with lots of people and I'm just looking for the door. I find myself getting more and more agoraphobic as time goes on. Sandra Cisneros goes-ondoorspeople I think no matter what you do you can't please everybody. You have to ask yourself, "Did I do what I set out to do?" Sandra Cisneros pleasematterthinking I'm not afraid to say what I'm afraid of. Does that make me fearless? Sandra Cisneros fearlessnot-afraiddoe I was the kind of person that was very social and liked to be with an entourage and have lots of parties and have people around me. And now I find I am much more satisfied seeing people one-on-one. I avoid crowds, and I get really plagued by people as if they are bees or something. I am talking about my friends. I can only handle them one at a time. Sandra Cisneros partytalkingpeople You know how sometimes you meet writers that are so full of themselves? They feel really proud that they wrote something . But what they don't understand - and I like to tell this to writers - is that writing is like fishing. It's just like fishing. If you don't fish that often, you're not going to catch that many fish. Sandra Cisneros proudfishingwriting I was raised a Catholic, but with very liberal parents, so I had to find my spirituality. I've been looking for it since I was a child. I would find it in pieces of art, music, flowers, trees. Now I've come full circle finding God in clouds, flowers, and trees. Sandra Cisneros flowerchildrenart I was reading Emily Dickinson and Edwin Arlington Robinson, but these weren't the poets that influenced me. I think Gwendolyn Brooks influenced me because she wrote about Chicago, and she wrote about poor people. And she influenced me in my life by giving me a blurb. I would see her in action, and she listened to every single person. She didn't say, "Oh, I'm tired. I gotta go." She was there, and present, with every single person. She's one of the great teachers. Sandra Cisneros tiredreadingteacher We started an organization that's the only sub-organization of the MacArthur Foundation and we are called the Macarturos. Usually when I win something, I'm the only one of my ethnicity to get it, but this time I met all these Latinos, and I was so excited. I'd meet someone and I'd go, [...] "Can you come to San Antonio?" And they'd go, "Oh yeah." [...] And suddenly I had twelve people that said they would come. And I didn't know how it was going to be. And that's how the Macarturos became a reality, where these very generous geniuses come to San Antonio and work together. Sandra Cisneros ethnicitywinningreality
