My father's death took me to a place I had never been and a place I had never left. In his absence, I've had to rely more on myself.

The fact that I am writing to you in English already falsifies what I wanted to tell you. My subject: how to explain to you that I don't belong to English though I belong nowhere else

My writing, such as it is, grows out of my sense of discolation, I mean, dislocation. Having lost my place, I write to find my place, or to find once again that I have lost my place.

I was born in Cuba but was made in the USA.

Every book I think will be my last one because after finishing I have the sense that I've said all I have to say, but I always seem to find a new way of repeating myself.

I am a loner by nature, and then I'm a writer, which makes me twice a loner.

There's a Cuban saying: Bicho malo nunca muere. Loose translation: The good die young but the wicked live forever. It seems to apply to Fidel. I hope it applies to me.

Literature is breathing. I teach literature the way someone else might teach First Aid.

I read fiction all the time. It's true that I don't like fantasy or science fiction. I like "realistic" novels, particularly those in which nothing much ever happens.

The fact that Iam writing to youin Englishalready falsifies what Iwanted to tell you.My subject:how to explain to youthat I don't belong to Englishthough I belong nowhere else, if not herein English.

The fact that Iam writing to youin Englishalready falsifies what Iwanted to tell you.My subject:how to explain to you that Idon't belong to Englishthough I belong nowhere else

Gratitude is the seed of gladness.

Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world tho' the cant of hypocrites may be the worst the cant of criticism is the most tormenting.

Poetry must be as new as foam and as old as the rock.

Often your utterances and expressions of your face leak out the secrets of your hidden thoughts.

I knew my destiny when I first experienced Yosemite.

I would prefer to battle the 'I'm special' feeling not by the thought, 'I'm no more special than anyone else,' by by the feeling, 'Everyone is as special as me.'

A good scientist is a person in whom the childhood quality of perennial curiosity lingers on. Once he gets an answer, he has other questions.

The angel of death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings.

If I'm playing a murderer, I don't go out and start murdering people.

My friends. They help me so much. I would not be here without my friends.