These my two hands / quick to slap my face / before others could slap it.

A woman who writes has power, and a woman with power is feared.

What we say and what we do ultimately comes back to us so let us own our responsibility, place it in our hands, and carry it with dignity and strength.

Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one's shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new element, an "alien" element.

Books saved my sanity, knowledge opened the locked places in me and taught me first how to survive and then how to soar.

Though we tremble before uncertain futures may we meet illness, death and adversity with strength may we dance in the face of our fears.

I had to leave home so I could find myself, find my own intrinsic nature buried under the personality that had been imposed on me.

I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent's tongue - my woman's voice, my sexual voice, my poet's voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.

Nothing happens in the 'real' world unless it first happens in the images in our heads

I am playing with my Self, I am playing with the world's soul, I am the dialogue between my Self and el espiritu del mundo. I change myself, I change the world.

I change myself, I change the world.

War is massacre. It is 100 per cent negative.

Success is like the most beautiful woman:pursued by many, loved by all, feared by few, courted by the patient and hardworking, and won over by good judgment.

Seeing someone reading something I wrote on an airplane - things like that are pretty awesome.

Laziness has many disguises. Soon "winter doldrums" will become "spring fever."

Yeah, I like to have fun - I think that's a good way to live. I think you're better at your job if you like it.

Each congressional race really depends upon the candidates and how they carry the message.

I have gone insane. I won't be talking with you for a while.

We make butterflies by feeding caterpillars, not by trying to paste wings on them. Kids need to like themselves the way they are, and we can help them develop a positive self-image.

Art is a lie that makes us realise truth ... that is given us to understand.