Sandra Cisneros

“I wanted to write something in a voice that was unique to who I was. And I wanted something that was accessible to the person who works at Dunkin Donuts or who drives a bus, someone who come...”

“I grew up listening to the Beatles and being an ardent Beatles fan when I was in third grade all the way to adulthood, and listening to all kinds of music that came to us either at the flea...”

“I was a terrible student. Still, I managed to get into college, but my daydreaming threatened to sabotage me. I used behavior modification to break the cycle. I started by setting an arbitra...”

“One of my favorite writers is Hans Christian Anderson. His stories speak to the times.”

“All of my work is influenced by fairy tales, and I hope my work shows Hans Christian Anderson's influence.”

“I was a little press writer when the National Endowment for the Arts came to my rescue and gave me an award. I couldn't buy a light bulb. Almost more than the money, the awards are important...”

“I was silent as a child, and silenced as a young woman; I am taking my lumps and bumps for being a big mouth, now, but usually from those whose opinion I don't respect.”

“Writing is like sewing together what I call these 'buttons,' these bits and pieces.”

“I spent my thirties living out of boxes and moving every six months to a year. It was my cloud period: I just wandered like a cloud for ten years, following the food supply. I was a hunter,...”

“Well, I'm Buddhist, Ray, and so part of my Buddhism has allowed me to look a little more deeply at people and the events in my life that created me. And I think a lot of that Buddhism comes...”

“In the business world, I did fairly well, but wasn't happy. A bout of sciatica put me flat on my back. All I could do was read, listen to my mother's stories about the Sandovals, and daydrea...”

“I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog.”

“I feel comfortable in Spanish, I chat like a parrot, but I don't have the confidence in Spanish that I do in English.”

“I've always read broadly: literary fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, chick lit, historical, dystopian, nonfiction, memoir. I've even read Westerns. I prefer female protagonists.”

“Revenge only engenders violence, not clarity and true peace. I think liberation must come from within.”

“I think my family and closest friends are learning about my need to withdraw, and I am learning how to restore and store my energy to both serve the community to the best of my ability and t...”

“In my youth, daydreaming nurtured me, provided a safe haven. I'd sleep for twelve hours and even when awake escape to the safe place in my mind.”

“I think that Mexican-American kids live in a global world. It's not even bi-, it's multi-. You know, for those of us who grew up with different countries on our block, different nationalitie...”

“I am a woman, and I am a Latina. Those are the things that make my writing distinctive. Those are the things that give my writing power.”

“I thought that strange syntax was the language of story books. I didn't realize those were poor translations... English from Edwardian times.”