The longer I live, the more uninformed I feel. Only the young have an explanation for everything.

I'm very optimistic because I think that the real strength of a nation like the United States comes from blending cultures. There's no way that you can close the frontiers anywhere. The borders are there to be violated permanently.

We all have an unsuspected reserve of strength inside that emerges when life puts us to the test.

There is no death, daughter. People die only when we forget them,' my mother explained shortly before she left me. 'If you can remember me, I will be with you always.

All stories interest me, and some haunt me until I end up writing them.

I felt an unrelenting restlessness. It was the first time I had ever experienced jealousy, and that emotion clung to my skin day and night like a dark stain, a contamination I could not shed; it became so unbearable that when finally I rid myself of it, I was freed forever of the desire to possess another person or the temptation ever to belong to anyone.

I have a very acute sense of place and time, so all of my stories are rooted in a place and a time.