The Hummingbird's Daughter Quotes
"If you were born to be a burro, you can't be an eagle."
"Life was basically a long series of troubles."
"Every Mexican was a diluted Indian, invaded by milk like the coffee in Cayetana's cup."
"Death is alive, they whispered. Death lives inside life, as bones dance within the body."
"When you were born to be a nail, you had to be hammered."
"Being dead could put you in a terrible mood."
"The child within her had decided it was time to come forth."
"The hills are old, too, and they are still covered in flowers."
"If you were born to be an anvil, you must bear many blows."
"If you were born to be a nail, you cannot curse the hammer."
"For every bad thing in life, mezcal. And for every good thing, too."
"God doesn’t care if you think you’re pretty!"
"You are not always meant to understand, only to accept."
"Be sure to shake your boots out in the morning. Scorpions."
"We must—we have no choice. It’s simple: without the dreams, we cannot converse with the secret."
"Angels travel these regions," Huila said. "And souls. God can speak to you there."
"You were born to suffer," she said. "Your only choice is to endure it."
"This wind," Urrea said, "it dries your snot."
"If God is everywhere, my children," he was saying, "then He is in everything. If He is in everything, then He is in me, then He is me. And I am God."
"Do you hope to become president of the republic?" "Why not?" Teresita insisted. "I could."
"We just don’t," Huila said about reading the Bible.
"The white man will die! The dead will then rise! A flood will cover the earth, and new soil thirty feet deep will sprout new corn and flowers!"
"You are the essence of springtime in a woman’s form."
"You must believe me. Put me to any test, Gaby."
"The pig, loyal and in love, waited on the front steps for Teresita to come out every morning."
"She could drink if she wanted to, as long as she was with her father."
"She wasn’t going to make him kneel in a barn! Not to a celibate freak!"
"Someday. Not anytime soon. And Tomás would handle the arrangements. Including the identity of the groom."
"Tomás preferred not to hear about any of her more peculiar enthusiasms or astral adventures."
"Teresita was allowed all the friends she wanted, as long as they were (1) female and (2) of her new social class."
"Teresita turned to Gaby and put out her hand. "Hello, Mother, how do you do?""
""You and everybody else," said Teresita as they burrowed in the covers and whispered."
""Look at the size of his balls!" said Huila."
""Stand inside the earth. Feel yourself standing inside it.""
""Water is soft, and it is the most powerful force on earth.""
""Let your knees bob a little. There, connect.""
""Shoes, boots, wagons, floors. They don’t remember the earth.""
""Believe. You might never get explanations.""
""Miracles are bloody and sometimes come with mud sticking to them.""
""Women were braver than men. Braver and stronger.""
""If you cannot believe in God, then how can God punish you for your lack of Faith?""
""Damned right, you don’t know. It’s a mystery.""
""We will all be hurt. What I said was: they shall not overpower you.""
""God spoke to me," she said. "His voice is like the voice of a young man.""
""Hundreds of lights," murmured Teresita, as she closed her eyes."
""We are like water. We are clouds. We are air.""
""If I work my fingers to the bone, Teresita, I might one day write a poem as lovely as your walk.""
"Love, and burial shrouds both come down from Heaven."
"Blessed are you when you pray for others. Shame on you when you pray out of selfishness and greed."
"The doing of good is the only prayer that God requires."
"Religions are practices that focus on the surface of things, that fail to touch the soul."
"You do not believe in God, then you do not believe in love."
"How will you test me, Tiger? Shall we shoot at cans? Race horses?"
"They say I am a saint. But you see, dear José... like you, I am only a servant."
"I am glad to meet you, Cruz Chávez. It’s about time we had a Mexican pope!"
"Then they were supposed to die. I can only do what I can do. To try to do more would be a lie."
"A hundred years from now, when they remember you, they will all say, He was so serious."
"Love for God, love for each other. Reconciliation. Service. Joy!"
"I will consider adopting a theology of misery, then."
"We are the tools of God. We cannot afford to rust or break."
"She has given me peace. She has given me a good death. I am not afraid."
"The only power I have is the power you yourselves have. God has the power. We are here to serve."
"We will stop the cavalry before it can do harm to her or to our village."
"You are always in a universe of choices. Any moment of your life can go in any direction you choose."
"No bad can befall us that does not bring us some good."
"We spend our lives walking into our own mirrors. All we see is ourselves as we walk down the road."
"I have been so bad. What God would listen to my pleas?"
"Fathers and mothers know how to pray better than priests."
"This is your life, what it looks like to God. Every second of every day."
9179812
9179812