If you really want a prize, or if you really want applause, you should try to write as many books as humanly possible.

We're on speaking terms today. I say, Maybe we should hang out with the boys, and you shake your head. I want to spend time with you, you say. If we're still good, next week maybe. That's the most we can hope for. Nothing thrown, nothing said that we might remember for years. You watch me while you put a brush through your hair. Each strand that breaks is as long as my arm. You don't want to let go, but don't want to be hurt, either. It's not a great place to be but what can I tell you?

In order to write the book you want to write, in the end you have to become the person you need to become to write that book.

People can say what they want, but historically, feminism in the Dominican Republic has been extremely strong.

Run a hand through your hair, like the white boys do, even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa.

I always think about myself as a writer; that comes out of being a reader first, and I don't think I kind of got to really playing with language in any formal way probably until I was in my mid-twenties.

You were at the age where you could fall in love with a girl over an expression, over a gesture. That's what happened with your girlfriend, Paloma- she stooped to pick up her purse and your heart flew out of you.