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Esmeralda Santiago
11 quotes
“My own ancestors. I come from poor, landless peasants who left no records. And so I began to read the story of Puerto Rico, and the more I read the story the more I realized I would never find my own ancestors, but I could make my imaginary ancestors. And so the book emerges as a result of my trying to create them, to create the people that might have been.”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On what inspired her to write Conquistadora in “Conversation: Esmeralda Santiago, Author of ‘Conquistadora’” in PBS NEWSHOUR (2011 Aug 12)
“At a certain point, I gave up on the idea that I’m not enough for other people…You are enough for you if you believe that you are enough for you. Whatever they say — you’re not Latina enough, or feminine enough or smart enough, you know ... just say ‘fuck you.’ That’s their problem.”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On past feelings that she was not Puerto Rican enough in “Esmeralda Santiago: A Critical Voice In The Puerto Rican Diaspora” in the Huffington Post (2019 Sep 16)
“I thought, 'I have been through this process before’…When I was 13 years old I came from Puerto Rico to the United States not knowing any English. What I did at that time was I went to the public library, and I would go to the children’s book section where there would be alphabet books and everything would be illustrated. So it was very easy to connect the words to the images. I said, ‘I’m just going to do the same thing. If I did it once before, I can do it again.’”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how relearning to read after a stroke paralleled her initial efforts to learn English in “Writer Esmeralda Santiago On Relearning How To Read” in WBUR (2014 Sep 24)
“How can you know what you're capable of if you don't embrace the unknown?”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conquistadora (2011)
“I learned you pay for your happiness. That's why I don't expect to be happy all the time. I'd rather be surprised by one moment every so often to remind me that joy is possible, even if I have to pay for it later.”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conquistadora (2011)
“I didn’t leave Puerto Rico. A mí me sacaron,” she tells me, referring to her exodus from Puerto Rico as a girl from San Juan. “I think nobody would prefer to leave that way.”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Edmaris Carazo, who the author says is one of her favorite talents from Puerto Rico at the moment...For Santiago, the impetus to develop a new tradition of Puerto Rican authors comes from her beginnings in literature, back in her childhood when she spent time in the backyard of a family member’s house in el campo. There, she listened to relatives tell trovas – oral tradition in rhyme. She also credits her dad’s love for poetry and Puerto Rican authors Julia de Burgos, Manuel Alonso, and Luis Palés Matos with sparking her interest.”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Through her work, she has shown a remarkable commitment to maintaining the stories of Puerto Rico in boricua hands. “If we preserve our stories, then they belong to us,” she says.”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For me, the person I was becoming when we left was erased, and another one was created.”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wondered if men ever talked like this, if their sorrows ever spilled into these secret cadences.”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What doesn't kill you, makes you fat.”
Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source