My country has no history, only a past.

Growing up is never straight forward. There are moments when everything is fine, and other moments where you realize that there are certain memories that you'll never get back, and certain people that are going to change, and the hardest part is knowing that there's nothing you can do except watch them.

Being a foreigner is not a disease.

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.

Offhand, the only North American writers I can think of who have come from a background of rural poverty and gone on to write about it have been Negroes.