Quotes from Luis Alberto Urrea

Our power comes from the earth

I am in the earth and the earth is in me

The government knew a secret that the American public didn't: the numbers of border crossers were down, across the board. Maybe the fence, maybe the harsh new atmosphere

loud. It was as if God's violence had come upon them in deepest rage, dropping temples and crushing idols to the ground.

Life shifting, as life does

Gringos! They have copied us again

It was 1965, and he felt he had already lived a hundred years.

For every bad thing in life, mezcal. And... for every good thing, too.

He, who endlessly combated his family's reliance on 'Mexican time.' They drove him crazy. If a dinner gathering was announced for six o'clock, he could be sure it wouldn't start until nine. They'd walk in as if they were early. Or worse, they'd say 'What?' as if he were the one with a problem. You know you're Mexican when lunch doesn't show up till ten at night.

The world of reason must be a lonely place," she said.

People daily speak a quilt of words, and continents and nations and tribes and even enemies dance all over your mouth when you speak. The tongue seems to know no race, no affiliation, no breed, no caste, no order, no genus, no lineage.

No way of knowing how language re-created a family. His own children didn't want to learn Spanish, when he had given everything to learn English.

The other thing he railed against, after 'Mexican time' and lame excuses, was bad teeth. Mexicans could not afford bad teeth if they expected gringos to take them seriously.

Irene threw her things into the back of the truck and pressed in beside them. The Allies were beating the Germans back across the Siegfried Line. Atrocities were scattered throughout the Ardennes. But she was back with her Sisters. Heading east, following Patton and his warriors into the heart of Hitler's empire.

Life was generous: it gave a man a thousand things to be pissed off about.

Better a shamed face than a stained heart,' Teresita announced.

Tomás rode his wicked black stallion through the frosting of starlight that turned his ranch blue and pale gray, as if powdered sugar had blown off the sky and sifted over the mangoes and mesquites.

How come,' Big Angel said, 'we never kissed?' 'Kissed?' 'Don't families kiss?' 'Like, brothers? Kissing?' 'Why not?' They pondered the new possibility.

Every Mexican was a diluted Indian, invaded by milk like the coffee in Cayetana's cup.

No one in this dogfight has any illusions: it is all instinct and training. They move like machines. But they never lose their own sense of style. Their own dance moves. They speak the same aerial language.

Do gringos kiss?' Big Angel asked. 'Some,' Little Angel said. 'I know guys. Kiss their dads.' 'Everybody kisses moms, though.' 'Kissing moms doesn't count. It's required.' 'Right, right. If you don't kiss your mom, forget it, man.' 'Right? You don't get to heaven if you don't kiss your mom.

She patted Teresita on the head. She was five years older when she rose than when she'd sat down.

Only selfish people are negative, Angel.

I dreamed of a hummingbird made of sky.