65 Sandra Cisneros Quotes From The Influential Chicana Writer

Writvik Gupta
Dec 12, 2023 By Writvik Gupta
Originally Published on Feb 23, 2021
Edited by Monisha Kochhar
Top view thirties retro writers desk with typewriter
Age: 0-99
Read time: 8.8 Min

Sandra Cisneros is an American writer born on 20 December 1954.

Sandra Cisneros's work, stories, and quotes experimented with literary forms from all over the world. Sandra Cisneros is best known for her first novel written in 1983, 'The House on Mango Street'.

Sandra Cisneros's quotes and stories highlight issues that she knew she needs to highlight. Sandra Cisneros is one of the most influential American Chicana writers known for the best revolutionary writings and active participation in the Chicano literary movement as an active and established women author of that time throughout her life. Sandra Cisneros's first novel 'The House on Mango Street' gave her fame and recognition, and 'Caramelo' Sandra Cisneros quotes were equally successful in making her popular.

Sandra Cisneros's stories are unique as they always include some social, cultural, or economic context. Sandra Cisneros's writings are mainly influenced by her personal experiences and detailed observations of her life. She is also known for her constructive works on Chicana identity and her vocal spirit on feminism and other socio-cultural and orthodoxical issues prevalent in society. Sandra Cisneros holds many awards.

We've collected a few of the best Sandra Cisneros quotes for you to read and enjoy. If you like any particular Sandra Cisneros quote from the list below, you'd also like to read through our 'The House on Mango Street' quotes and Zora Neale Hurston quotes.

Famous Sandra Cisneros Quotes

Here are some famous quotes from Sandra Cisneros for you to ponder upon which will give you an insight into her inner thought process. These Sandra Cisneros quotes can amaze you in many possible ways.

1. "I believe love is always eternal. Even if eternity is only five minutes."

- Sandra Cisneros.

2. "'Hispanic' is English for a person of Latino origin who wants to be accepted by the white status quo."

- Sandra Cisneros.

3. "The more you speak more languages, the more you understand about yourself."

- Sandra Cisneros.

4. "I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalogue."

- Sandra Cisneros.

5. "I am a woman, and I am a Latina. Those are the things that make my writing distinctive."

- Sandra Cisneros.

6. "I've put up with too much, too long, and now I'm just too intelligent, too powerful, too beautiful, too sure of who I am finally to deserve anything less."

- Sandra Cisneros.

7. "The beauty of literature is you allow readers to see things through other people's eyes."

- Sandra Cisneros.

8. "I don't see any kind of mirror of power, male power, that is, as a form of liberation."

- Sandra Cisneros.

9. "At the time I was writing it, it started as my own memoirs but transformed into a piece of fiction."

- Sandra Cisneros.

10. "I realize that when I moved out of my father's house I shocked and frightened him because I needed a space of my own to reinvent myself."

- Sandra Cisneros.

11. "But I deal with this meditating and by understanding, I've been put on the planet to serve humanity."

- Sandra Cisneros.

12. "I have to understand what my strengths and limitations are and work from a true place."

- Sandra Cisneros.

13. "I think my family and closest friends are learning about my need to withdraw, and I am learning how to restore and store my energy."

-Sandra Cisneros.

14. "And the nice thing about writing a novel is you take your time, you sit with the character sometimes nine years, you look very deeply at a situation."

- Sandra Cisneros.

Revolutionary Sandra Cisneros Quotes

Classic typewriter on author's desk

Sandra Cisneros quotes talk about many revolutionary ideas and thoughts about feminism and other issues prevailing in society.

15. "My feminism is humanism, with the weakest being those who I represent, and that includes many beings and life forms."

- Sandra Cisneros.

16. "I try to be as honest about what I see and to speak rather than be silent, especially if it means I can save lives, or serve humanity."

- Sandra Cisneros.

17. "Writing is like sewing together what I call these 'buttons,' these bits and pieces."

- Sandra Cisneros.

18. "I was silent as a child, and silenced as a young woman; I am taking my lumps and bumps for being a big mouth."

- Sandra Cisneros.

19. "I felt a failure because I couldn't sustain myself from what I earned from my writing."

- Sandra Cisneros.

20. "Revenge only engenders violence, not clarity and true peace. I think liberation must come from within."

- Sandra Cisneros.

21. "I'm afraid I'm still trying to find that balance. Especially now that everyone wants a piece of me."

- Sandra Cisneros.

22. "My father always defined my gender to my brothers. He'd say, 'This is your sister; you must take care of her."

- Sandra Cisneros.

23. "I liked the books I read that said things like 'I shan't'."

- Sandra Cisneros.

24. "Marshall Rosenberg talks about how we can create peace in the communities we work with."

- Sandra Cisneros.

25. "One press account said I was an overnight success. I thought that was the longest night I've ever spent."

- Sandra Cisneros.

26. "For a writer, for the solitude to write, you don't need a room of your own, you need a house."

- Sandra Cisneros.

27. "I've always read broadly: literary fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, chick-lit, historical, dystopian, nonfiction, memoir."

- Sandra Cisneros.

28. "I spent my thirties living out of boxes and moving every six months to a year. It was my cloud period: I just wandered like a cloud for ten years, following the food supply."

- Sandra Cisneros.

29. "Generally if you're a daughter in a Mexican family, no one wants to tell you anything; they tell you the healthy lies about your family."

- Sandra Cisneros.

30. "My father never wanted me to be a writer. He didn't - he came to terms with it maybe two years before he died."

- Sandra Cisneros.

31. "Perhaps the greatest challenge has been trying to keep my time to myself and my private life private in order to do my job."

- Sandra Cisneros.

32. "I tell people to write the stories that you're afraid to talk about, the stories you wish you'd forget because those have the most power."

- Sandra Cisneros.

33. "It takes a long time for women to feel it's alright to be chingona."

- Sandra Cisneros.

34. "What you're going to be asked to do is bigger than what you think you can do."

- Sandra Cisneros.

35. "I have to say that the traditional role is kind of a myth. I think the traditional Mexican woman is a fierce woman."

- Sandra Cisneros.

36. "You were given that pain and that vision because you have something to do with it."

- Sandra Cisneros.

37. "I'm a witch woman--high on tobacco and holy water."

- Sandra Cisneros.

38. "People know when you're speaking from el corazón. You have that pain."

- Sandra Cisneros.

39. "I don't think the church likes chingonas. I don't think the state likes chingonas! And fathers definitely do not like chingonas."

- Sandra Cisneros.

40. "I'm not afraid to say what I'm afraid of. Does that make me fearless?"

- Sandra Cisneros.

Unique Sandra Cisneros Quotes

Sandra Cisneros was a celebrated author and novelist of her time. Read unique Sandra Cisneros quotes from her works and explore some of the most unique quotes written by Sandra Cisneros.

41. "The beauty of literature is you allow readers to see things through other people's eyes."

- Sandra Cisneros.

42. "If you know two cultures and two languages, that intermediate place, where the two don't perfectly meet, is really interesting."

- Sandra Cisneros.

43. "I've put up with too much, too long, and now I'm just too intelligent, too powerful, too beautiful."

- Sandra Cisneros.

44. "You can't erase what you know. You can't forget who you are."

- Sandra Cisneros.

45. "I am obsessed with becoming a woman comfortable in her skin."

- Sandra Cisneros.

46. "The ego's blocking the light from coming."

- Sandra Cisneros.

47. "There's a lot of people that need these stories, and they can't come to my book, so I'm going to be the bookmobile and I'm going to come to them."

- Sandra Cisneros.

48. "I think people should read fairy tales because we're hungry for a mythology that will speak to our fears."

-Sandra Cisneros.

49. "I've even read Westerns. I prefer female protagonists."

-  Sandra Cisneros.

50. "If I have to get off the stage, don't take it personally."

- Sandra Cisneros.

51. "I was reading all these male writers who were doing wild and wonderful things. It gave me permission to experiment."

- Sandra Cisneros.

52. "I have to remind myself to live simply and not to overindulge."

- Sandra Cisneros.

53. "I find that I have to become more and more reclusive and pick and choose when I am public and when I am private."

- Sandra Cisneros.

54. "I think of reading as like a medicine cabinet."

-  Sandra Cisneros.

55. "Even if you don't believe in God, you have to believe in love."

-  Sandra Cisneros.

56. "There's no perfect place, there's no wonderful utopia."

-  Sandra Cisneros.

57. "I don’t take it personally. It has nothing to do with me, or with my book."

- Sandra Cisneros.

Best Sandra Cisneros Quotes

Here are some of the best Sandra Cisneros quotes from her first novel "The House on Mango Street" that show her intriguing thought process and her detailed observations on things. Here are great Sandra Cisneros quotes for you to read.

58. "Their strength is secret"

- Sandra Cisneros.

59. "Chinese, like the Mexicans, don’t like their women strong."

- Sandra Cisneros.

60. "You would see me less and less and like me better."

- Sandra Cisneros.

61. "I'm a woman delighted with her disasters."

- Sandra Cisneros.

62. "I will meet a man who likes a chingona, one day. One day, my chingon will come."

- Sandra Cisneros.

63. "I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window."

- Sandra Cisneros.

64. "I think we are all gifted as children, but we aren’t gifted with the same gifts."

- Sandra Cisneros.

65. "Get yourself empty in the Eastern sense. Not in the Western sense."

-Sandra Cisneros.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Sandra Cisneros Quotes, then why not take a look at [Maya Angelou Love quotes], or 'The Bluest Eye' quotes?

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Written by Writvik Gupta

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Writvik Gupta

A professional content writer hailing from Kolkata, India, with extensive experience in the corporate sector, Writvik Gupta has worked with several reputed companies, including ITC WelcomHotel Jodhpur, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, Aryan Imaging, and Eduquity. He also serves as a consultant for a startup based in Bangalore. With a passion for the outdoors, Writvik enjoys trekking and traveling to remote destinations. He also has a keen interest in exploring various cuisines and regularly volunteers for social causes.

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