39 Quotes by Gloria E. Anzaldúa

Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one’s shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new element, an “alien” element.

What we say and what we do ultimately comes back to us so let us own our responsibility, place it in our hands, and carry it with dignity and strength.

I had to leave home so I could find myself, find my own intrinsic nature buried under the personality that had been imposed on me.

But I’m more scared of not writing.

I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent’s tongue – my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.

Why am I compelled to write? Because the writing saves me from this complacency I fear. Because I have no choice.

Write with your eyes like painters, with your ears like musicians, with your feet like dancers. You are the truthsayer with quill and torch. Write with your tongues of fire. Don’t let the pen banish you from yourself.

Depression is useful. It signals that you need to make changes in your life, it challenges your tendency to withdraw, it reminds you to take action.

Wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out.