Know that in this world there's somebody who will always love you.

Part of it is eight years of a black president, and white America still lost their [minds] about that. Part of it is a Republican politics of vicious, vicious partisan [stuff] that has completely poisoned what we would call the political rhetorical sphere. All of these things come together in a perfect storm.

Dominican men are told to look at women all the time, but they're definitely not told to see them.

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

I always wanted to read. I always thought I was going to be a historian. I would go to school and study history and then end up in law school, once, I ran out of loot trying to be a history high school teacher. But my dream was always to place myself in a situation where I was always surrounded by books.

This country wants to live in the illusion that it is tolerant but also wants to be able to practice intolerance.

Books are wonderful, but they aren't that powerful.