Top 10 Quotes by Esmeralda Santiago

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.

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

Joy, Pay, Moments

Esmeralda Santiago (2011). “Conquistadora”, p.38, Vintage

Tell me who you walk with, and I'll tell you who you are.

Esmeralda Santiago

Romantic, Famous Love, Best Love

Esmeralda Santiago (2006). “When I was Puerto Rican”, p.243, Da Capo Press

if you don't exist in the arts of a culture, you're invisible. The arts are what express the soul of who we are and that expresses our humanity.

Esmeralda Santiago

Art, Soul, Humanity

How can you know what you're capable of if you don't embrace the unkown?

Esmeralda Santiago

Motivational, Change, Embrace

For me, the person I was becoming when we left was erased, and another one was created.

Esmeralda Santiago

Becoming, Persons, Left

Esmeralda Santiago (2006). “When I was Puerto Rican”, p.209, Da Capo Press

Another train will come. Why rush? Why worry? Why go crazy? Another train will come. And sure enough, another train going my way was pulling into the station. My bad mood evaporated. I entered the car smiling, certain that there would be more missed trains in my life, more closed doors in my face, but there would always be another train rumbling down the tracks in my direction.

Esmeralda Santiago

Crazy, Doors, Worry

Esmeralda Santiago (2009). “The Turkish Lover: A Memoir”, p.77, Da Capo Press

We're always going to have prejudices ... I don't think we can change society. You can only change individual by individual. And you can change yourself.

Esmeralda Santiago

Thinking, Prejudice, Individual

People think [immigration] is only about the dollar, but it's so much more complex. This is a place where you can reinvent yourself. I don't know that you can do that anywhere else.

Esmeralda Santiago

Thinking, People, Immigration