I had many reasons for writing memoir but among them was the hope that every Latino child and adult would find something familiar in it.

Success is its own reward, but failure is a great teacher too, and not to be feared.

As you discover what strength you can draw from your community in this world from which it stands apart, look outward as well as inward. Build bridges instead of walls.

I do know one thing about me: I don't measure myself by others' expectations or let others define my worth.

Experience has taught me that you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. Their real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire.

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

Remember that no one succeeds alone. Never walk alone in your future paths.

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences...our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.

Until we reach equality in education, we can't reach equality in the larger society.

The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever.

There are no bystanders in life [...] Our humanity makes us each a part of something greater than ourselves.

Knowledge if churned like milk, results in the butter of wisdom.

God was just. She held on to that knowledge and the hope that the day of justice would eventually arrive.

People weren't buying as many records. My record company did not want me. I went through three record companies, went on tour at the wrong time. It destroyed me.

What the poet is searching for is not the fundamental I but the deep you.

One thing is sure, there are just two respectable ways to die. One is of old age, and the other is by accident.

Regarding the fundamental investigations of mathematics, there is no final ending ... no first beginning.

It still hurts," she whispered. "Even when you're doing it for someone else, that doesn't stop your ribs from getting cracked, or your wrist swelling, or your cuts from bleeding.

Hollywood is a strange place if you're in trouble. Everybody thinks it's contagious.

What we need now is endless courage.

And who are the greater criminals-those who sell the instruments of death, or those who buy them and use them?