Inspiring Voices: A Collection of Hispanic Heritage Quotes

"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

"We have to be visible. We are not ashamed of who we are."

- Sylvia Rivera

"You are not lucky to be here. The world needs your perspective. They are lucky to have you."

- Antonio Tijerino

"Your individuality is important, but so is belonging. Recognize the parts of your culture that have shaped your past, and the parts you want to carry with you into the future."

- Sol Peralta

"Don’t let fear stop you from achieving what you want."

- Elizabeth Colón

"Yes, I am the first Latino poet laureate in the United States. But I’m also here for everyone and from everyone. My voice is made by everyone’s voices."

- Juan Felipe Herrera

"When opportunity presents itself, grab it. Hold on tight and don’t let go."

- Celia Cruz

"If I could go back and give myself advice, I would say, ‘You deserve to be here because you are a good actor. You know it. Now, let everybody else know.'"

- Daniella de Jesús

"Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience."

- Paulo Coelho

"The most wonderful thing about life is that you can always begin again. No matter what ups and downs you are handed in life today, you can always begin again tomorrow."

- Raiza Mendoza

"At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can."

- Frida Kahlo

"Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world."

- Dolores Huerta

"Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures."

- Cesar Chavez

"Justice is about making sure that being polite is not the same thing as being quiet. In fact, often times, the most righteous thing you can do is shake the table."

- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

"If you have an opportunity to make things better and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth."

- Roberto Clemente

"Action is the antidote to despair."

- Joan Baez

"It is our duty and responsibility to become the best person we are intended to be."

- Luz Marie Caro

"Whatever it is your heart desires, please go for it. It’s yours to have."

- Gloria Estefan

"They are afraid of us because we are not afraid of them."

- Berta Cáceres

"You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore."

- Cesar Chavez

"The point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on."

- Julia Alvarez

"Forgiving is not forgetting. Forgiving is remembering without pain."

- Celia Cruz

"It is important for all of us to appreciate where we come from and how that history has really shaped us in ways that we might not understand."

- Sonia Sotomayor

"We have to defend democracy, but remember that not everything is politics. Without science, industry, and technology, no progress is possible, and without music and art, there’s no soul."

- Isabel Allende

"You have to remember the value of your individuality — that you have something special and different to offer that nobody else can."

- Jennifer Lopez

"You are perfectly cast in your life. I can’t imagine anyone but you in the role. Go play."

- Lin Manuel Miranda

"I don’t measure myself by others’ expectations or let others define my worth."

- Sonia Sotomayor

"I am more important than my problems."

- José Ferrer

"I live in the moment. The moment is the most important thing. That’s my entire philosophy: Make the best of the good moments."

- Rita Moreno

"I realized very early the power of food to evoke memory, to bring people together, to transport you to other places, and I wanted to be a part of that."

- Chef José Andrés

"No particular race is the enemy. Ignorance is the enemy."

- George Lopez

"You cannot reap what you have not sown. How are we going to reap love in our community, if we only sow hate?"

- Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez

"I believe that fortitude is key. More than anything, be consistent. Go at it. Go at it. Go at it. When you succeed, don’t forget the responsibility of making somebody else succeed with you."

- Antonia Novello

"What matters in life is not what happens to you, but what you remember and how you remember it."

- Gabriel García Márquez

"I don’t study to know more, but to ignore less."

- Juana Inés de la Cruz

"Though we tremble before uncertain futures, may we meet illness, death and adversity with strength, may we dance in the face of our fears."

- Gloria Anzaldúa

"A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just."

- Pope Francis

"Every day begins like a blank chalkboard, on which each one of us can write the poem of our present and our dreams of the future."

- Ricky Martin

"You only have what you give. It’s by spending yourself that you become rich."

- Isabel Allende

"Whatever it is your heart desires, please go for it, it’s yours to have."

- Gloria Estefan

"Education is what allows you to stand out"

- Ellen Ochoa

"The older I get, the more I’m conscious of ways very small things can make a change in the world. Tiny little things, but the world is made up of tiny matters, isn’t it?"

- Sandra Cisneros

"You only live once. You don’t want your tombstone to read: ‘Played it Safe.'"

- Rosario Dawson

"We tend to think of meditation in only one way. But life itself is a meditation."

- Raul Julia

"What is important is to believe in something so strongly that you’re never discouraged."

- Salma Hayek

"Your great strength is knowing who you are."

- Oscar de la Renta

"Every single immigrant we have, undocumented or documented, is a future American. That’s just the truth of it."

- Junot Diaz

"It is through art that we will prevail and endure. It lives on after us and defines us as a people."

- Rita Moreno

"I know who I am and who I may be, if I choose."

- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

"No community values entrepreneurship and small business more than the Hispanic community."

- Marco Rubio

"I am the one thing in life I can control. I am inimitable. I am an original."

- Lin Manuel Miranda

"Many Latino kids should become scientists because we need scientists all over the world from all different backgrounds. We have many tough problems, and we need everybody’s help to solve the problems."

- Mario J. Molina

"The Latino population has become such a presence. We are part of the American tapestry in a very profound way, in every area you can think of, and are very significant in popular culture."

- Jimmy Smits

"We are a multicultural country – always have been, and to our credit, always will be. It is something that we should be very proud of and embrace."

- Cheech Marin

"I’m proud of being Hispanic."

- Lisa Guerrero

"My mother gave me one piece of advice that stuck with me. She said don’t forget where you came from."

- Eva Longoria

"We must use our lives to make the world a better place to live, not just to acquire things. That is what we are put on the earth for."

- Dolores Huerta

"If you have a dream, don’t let anybody take it away."

- Selena Quintanilla

"Take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are magic."

- Frida Kahlo

"I feel very proud to be Mexican. I didn’t have the opportunity to learn Spanish when I was a girl, but…it’s never too late to get in touch with your roots."

- Selena Quintanilla

"The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace."

- Carlos Santana

"I am proud to be born in the USA, but my Mexican roots are my foundation and what make me never give up, always keep fighting and finish the fight till the end."

- Oscar de la Hoya

"I want to be able to look back someday and say, ‘I did make a difference.’ Whether is was to open the minds of people to think that a woman can do a good job, or whether it’s the fact that so many kids out there think that they could be like me."

- Antonia Novello

"My mother says, “Sylvia, don’t you realize what we’re fighting for?”, “Yes, so we can get to that beautiful school in Westminster.” She said, “No Sylvia, that’s not we’re fighting, we’re fighting because under God we’re all equal, you belong at that school just like everybody else belongs to that school, that’s what we’re fighting for”."

- Sylvia Mendez

"If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on this earth."

- Roberto Clemente

"I love you more than my own skin."

- Frida Kahlo

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?"

- Frida Kahlo

"When people hear me sing, I want them to be happy, happy, happy. I don’t want them thinking about when there’s not any money, or when there’s fighting at home. My message is always felicidad – happiness."

- Celia Cruz

"Don’t be afraid to reach for the stars. I believe a good education can take you anywhere on Earth and beyond."

- Ellen Ochoa

"Love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love and love cannot be killed or swept aside."

- Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2016 Tony Awards

"We as women should shine light on our accomplishments and not feel egotistical when we do. It’s a way to let the world know that we as women can accomplish great things!"

- Dolores Huerta

"This was the last astronaut job that was not (yet) done by a woman. Now with this milestone we can focus on the fact that what is important to succeed in life, it does not matter whether you are a man or a woman."

- Ellen Ochoa

"One of the greatest things you have in life is that no one has the authority to tell you what you want to be. You’re the one who’ll decide what you want to be. Respect yourself and respect the integrity of others as well. The greatest thing you have is your self-image, a positive opinion of yourself. You must never let anyone take it from you."

- Jaime Escalante

"Success is its own reward, but failure is a great teacher too, and not to be feared."

- Sonia Sotomayor

"Usually, girls weren’t encouraged to go to college and major in math and science. My high school calculus teacher, Ms. Paz Jensen, made math appealing and motivated me to continue studying it in college."

- Ellen Ochoa

"I paint flowers so they will not die."

- Frida Kahlo

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

- Sandra Cisneros

"I want to be remembered not only as an entertainer but as a person who cared a lot, and I gave the best that I could. I tried to be the best role model that I possibly could."

- Selena Quintanilla

"The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever."

- Sonia Sotomayor

"As a young writer, I was on guard against the Latina in me, the Spanish in me because as far as I could see the models that were presented to me did not include my world. In fact, ‘I was told by one teacher in college that one could only write poetry in the language in which one first said Mother. That left me out of American literature, for sure."

- Julia Alvarez

"As an immigrant, I appreciate, far more than the average American, the liberties we have in this country. Silence is a big enemy of morality. I don’t want our blunders in history to get repeated."

- Gloria Estefan

"It’s a privilege to work as an anchor for Univision, but more important, I am amazed by how Latinos are transforming America."

- Jorge Ramos

"Growing up, there wasn’t an exact Hispanic role model that I had. I didn’t realize how big a difference I was making, going to the Olympics and being Hispanic, until I would be in an autograph session, and parents would come up to me and say, ‘You know, our family is so proud of you, you’re really doing Hispanics proud.’"

- Laurie Hernández

"This is what poetry means—language that surprises and keeps us on our toes."

- Gary Soto

"Doubts may grow as shadows loom, when you’re alone with your thoughts. Plant music, art, pics of the ones you love in the darkest corners. Harvest the fruits of your daydreams and rest. Water and sunlight to the best in you."

- Lin Manuel Miranda

"To sing is to love and affirm, to fly and to soar, to coast into the hearts of the people who listen to tell them that life is to live, that love is there, that nothing is a promise, but that beauty exists, and must be hunted for and found."

- Joan Baez

"Fashion is about dressing according to what’s fashionable. Style is more about being yourself."

- Oscar de la Renta

"The elasticity of imagination and compassion is what writing and reading promote."

- Julia Alvarez

"An artist is above all a human being, profoundly human to the core. If the artist can’t feel everything that humanity feels, if the artist isn’t capable of loving until he forgets himself and sacrifices himself if necessary, if he won’t put down his magic brush and head the fight against the oppressor, then he isn’t a great artist."

- Diego Rivera

"When you sing in English and Spanish, it’s two completely different forms of expression and . . . even the people who don’t speak Spanish love to hear me sing in Spanish."

- Gloria Estefan

"There is so much fear and hate. We must negate it with active, courageous love."

- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

"I am like a drop of water on a rock. After drip, drip, dripping in the same place, I begin to leave a mark, and I leave my mark in many people’s hearts."

- Rigoberta Menchú Tum

"The music is one of the beautiful things that has survived the Castro regime. I have played for audiences all over the world but I’ve never played for a Cuban audience. For [husband] Emilio and me, the music is the one tie to our homeland."

- Gloria Estefan

"Love is so short, and forgetting so long."

- Pablo Neruda

"One learns to love by loving."

- San Francisco de Sales

"In the end, the American dream is not a sprint, or even a marathon, but a relay. Our families don’t always cross the finish line in the span of one generation. But each generation passes on to the next the fruits of their labor."

- Julian Castro

"There are kisses that leave traces on the lips like a field of sunshine between two ice cubes."

- Gabriela Mistral

"Do not do with love what a child does with his balloon; when he has it, he ignores it, and when he loses it, he cries."

- Pablo Neruda

"You must want! You have the right to ask! You must desire."

- Eva Perón

"People think of Latina women as being fiery and fierce, which is usually true. But I think the quality that so many Latinas possess is strength. I’m very proud to have Latin blood."

- Zoe Saldaña

"Love is as important as food."

- Gabriel García Márquez

"I know now that he who hopes to be universal in his art must plant in his own soil . . . The secret of my best work is that it is Mexican."

- Diego Rivera

"It is through art that we will prevail and we will endure. It lives on after us and defines us as people."

- Rita Moreno

"I don’t want an uneventful and safe life, I prefer an adventurous one."

- Isabel Allende

"You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend, or not."

- Isabel Allende

"I have a day. If I know how to make the most of it, I have a treasure."

- Gabriela Mistral

"We must be impatient for change. Let us remember that our voice is a precious gift and we must use it."

- Claudia Flores

"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

"I hope I’ll see in my lifetime a growing realization that we are one world. And that no one is going to have quality of life unless we support everyone’s quality of life."

- Dr. Helen Rodríguez-Trías

"We open doors so others can walk through them."

- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

"Widen the path of opportunities and continue to leave a powerful and positive legacy in this world."

- Luis Fonsi

"We are all individuals; we are all human beings; we are all connected together; and we all have the same rights, the same freedom."

- Sylvia Mendez

"We can say, ‘Let our grandchildren worry about it.’ But it’s harder to change later. We invest in their children’s education, even though it doesn’t pay off for decades. Why not the planet?"

- Mario Molina

"As people of color, we have a potent power – and a responsibility – to change events around us, not just professionally, but spiritually and politically as well."

- Michelle Herrera Mulligan

"There was nobody that I could look up and say “That’s somebody like me”. Which is probably why I’m now known in my community as ‘ La Pionera ’, or the Pioneer. I really don’t think of myself as a role model. But it turns out that I am to a lot of the Hispanic community. Not just in show business, but in life. But that’s what happens when you’re first, right?"

- Rita Moreno

"How I vote is not relevant . . . I think that as a woman, as a Hispanic, as a member of a minority, as the first surgeon general who is all these, I bring a lot of sensitivity to the job."

- Antonia Novello

"You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming."

- Pablo Neruda

"I was the first Chicano to write in complete sentences."

- Gary Soto