So, you know, I always say that I'm a Mexican, but if I had to be a citizen of anywhere else, I'd be a citizen of Manhattan. I feel very much a New Yorker.

Talking in one language and talking in another, I think inevitably, produce two different personalities, as far as I've seen in other people. I assume it does the same for me.

The best translators slip into the glove of a text and then turn it inside out into another language, and the whole thing comes out looking like a brand-new glove again. I'm completely in awe of this skill, since I happen to be both bilingual and a writer, but nevertheless a lousy translator.

The most that somebody in Mexico City will get paid for a job in construction is 100 pesos a day.

You know, one, two, three, four, five years go by and then Marcos gets a little boring.

Peron had a wise saying. In politics, you can recover from anything except looking like a fool.

An essential part of the magic involves turning everyone into an enemy, to ward off surprises.