José N. Harris

“Every woman is a living poem...Most men are limericks!”

“And I always have this feeling, which may not be true at all, that I am being used as a messenger. I think I'm receiving, and so, I think I'm retransmitting!”

“We each have a spark of life inside of us, that can start a fire. You can choose to burn down a room or to brighten it with light.”

“I am and You are, because... He IS!”

“Our main problem is deciding how to spend this one and only precious life that we have been gifted... Shall we spend it trying to look good - trying to create the illusion of being better, stronger or smarter than others, or of having power and control over people and life's circumstances? Or shall we let go and humble ourselves - so we can truly taste life, enjoy it, share it, own it and fully appreciate it? Its a very personal choice. Let's choose wisely!”

“Each of us, To our own abilities...”

“Chase your dreams until you catch them! And then... Chase a bigger dream!”

“Never judge a work of art by its defects. They same is true with people.”

“Your life is your path. It's what's right in front of you. You can't walk down anyone else's path. The task is to live your own and to not try to follow someone else's path just because you think it looks better.”

“I don't really think of myself as an inspirational person. Instead, I tend to think of myself as being more like one of those guys standing on a busy street corner, twirling a a big pointed arrow. Except that my sign points toward Heaven.”

“WE AREWe are the lost onesSeeking refuge in dark alleysTold we are not forgottenWe are a past generation's hopeAsking daily for forgivenessViewed as misbegottenWe are restorers of humanityWho punished betrayers of justiceNow the hangman in his own nooseWe are the select fewWandering parks and streetsLost in a sea of endless facesWe are the faded photographsStored in an atticYearning to finish our missionsWe are both the young and the oldPoised on the cliff's edgeThinking of a last goodnightWe are our nation's warriorsDestined to becomeLine-items in a county's budget”

“When we stop thinking primarily about ourselves, of our wants, our image and our own self-preservation, we undergo a transformation of truly heroic proportions.”

“If a Piglet demonstrates courage... Is he still a Piglet?”

“There are people in this world who do not dream. They may try to stop you by their words and deeds, but like air, you can rise above it all. Dream, then follow your dreams and you will be unstoppable.”

“Over the past 8 years, I have stripped my life down. I don’t need as much as I thought I did. It was hard at first to make that change. I had to have faith and patience. And so, I did. Now, I have God and great people in my life. Everything else just seems to follow. Sometimes we don’t understand about the need to live more simply. We can make appointments all day long, 7 days a week. We can even schedule and plan for our deaths. I was fortunate to be freed to really be myself again, while there is still time and something left of me. And now, up here, there’s nothing but me (and Kilo) and the sky and a million billion stars. And once again, I am free to dream...”

“We showed up.We stood up.We stepped forward.We raised our right hands.We mailed our letters home.We shuffled, then stood in the door.We jumped.We walked through the fire.We did not dodge.We did not evade.... We did not run.We did not hide.We did not leave a friend behind.Consequently…We have nothing to prove.We have no stories to tell.We have no one to convince.Those who matter, already know.Those who don't, never will.We few.We Band of Brothers.We Moatengators...”

“I may not be a role model, angel, nor a saint.But my obligation and my sworn dutyis to never silently ignore evil,Rather,it is to get as close as I can to it,then destroy it.”

“All the mistakes I've made,That caused others pain,I could have done without.All my foolish pride,The things I want to hide,Have already been forgot.They're all behind you,They'll never find you,They shall return no more.... Sins are forgotten,Sunk to the bottom,Resting on the ocean floor.My careless misdeeds,All my thoughtless greeds,Can only haunt me now.They've been wiped away,By a soul so brave,And so they are no more.My memoriesMy wrongful deedsHave gone away forever more.Sins are forgottenSunk to the bottomResting on the ocean floor.”

“There is no substitute for hard work and taking responsibility for own own lives. And there is no substitute for love, patience, kindness and acceptance.”

“We draw our strength from the pains and despairs in which we have been forced to endure. But because of that strength, we shall endure.”

“BETRAYALNo failure in Life, whether of love or money, is ever really that simple; it usually involves a type of a shadowy betrayal, buried in a secret, mass grave of shared hopes and dreams.That universal mass grave exists in a private cemetery that most... both those suffering from the loss, but especially those committing the betrayal, refuse to acknowledge its existence.When you realize you've been deeply betrayed, fear really hits you. That's what you feel first. And then it's anger and frustration. Then disspointment and disilussionment.Part of the problem is how little we understand about the ultimate effects and consequences of betrayal on our hearts and spirits; and on trust and respect for our fellow brothers and sisters.In writing, there are only really a few good stories to tell, and in the end, and betrayal and the failure of love is one of the most powerful stories to tell.Tragedy in life normally comes with betrayal and compromise- by trading in our integrity and failing to treat life and others in our life, with respect and dignity. That's really where the truest and the most tragic failures comes from... they come making the choice to betray another soul, and in turn, giving up a peice of your own.”

“Even when I have bad manners... I'm still polite!”

“My witness is the wind, which has gone on and on, and will continue on and on. And it will carry forward my hopes and dreams for you... and for us.”

“As we crossed the border, I saw God in the sky in the form of huge sunburst cloud above the barren desert. He seemed to be pointing a finger at me and saying, "Pass here my son and go on, you're on the road to heaven.”

“I almost died, this past June. But I didn't. End of story.”

“When I see the full blue sky, with all its vastnesss, its as if He is telling me 'All this is yours and all of this comes back to me. Please take care of all of this, because I want to use it again and again and again. But while you are here, it is yours. Please enjoy it.”

“I want my writings to inspire and awaken. I have no interest in spinning silly tales for money. I want to fish deep down into my soul and see what I can pull up, in the belief that once I've gone that far down, everyone will understand that we are all the same, that far down.”

“I promise I shall never give up, and that I'll die sharing my stories and laughing with you and until then, I'll run around this world... Confessing my stories and making everyone else, confess their's to me.”

“Nice is nice. Kind is kind. Love is love, and Life is life.”

“Mañana will always mean mañana. But for my first few months in Zacatecas, that was all I heard- mañana. It was a lovely sounding word and I began to think that it probably meant "heaven.”

“I first studied at the "School of Hard Knocks." I was a very good student...”

“My karma was to be born in America where adults do not believe in happiness or fun, or at most these are considered low priorities. But everytime I leave this country, I always long for home.”

“When you are homeless, the whole world conspires against you...”

“The goal is to live... Because even one day, The stars will die.”

“The best teacher is experience. Not by copying the answers off the kid sitting next to you...”

“Don't send me a text message. I seldom respond to them. Use poetry.”

“I'm always surprised by how much I love the world... Hate seems so much easier, in comparison.”

“We will all die one day, but if we live our lives to our full potentials, we can live forever.. In the consciences of others.”

“If you want to freak someone out, don't ask them... What's the least you can do? Instead ask them... What's the most you can do?”

“‎1. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 2. Love your neighbor as yourself. It's that easy! :-)”

“One day, as My uncle Antonio was heading out to a cantina, I slipped a story I had written into his shirt pocket. It was story about a little boy who would poke his finger with a needle and make it bleed. The boy did it so he would get some attention from his mother. It worked out great for a while. But one day, his mother came into the boy’s room, lifted up his sheets and found the boy’s cold body. The little boy had bled to death. The next morning, I awoke to find a new black and white speckled composition notebook sitting next to my head....”

“My mother would always ask us if anyone wanted to learn how to cook or to sew or to iron clothes. I always ran to her—“Me! Me! Me!” So, my mom would teach me. I secretly feared that I might be condemning myself to a life of sissyhood. One day she said it was good that I learned these things because I was never going to be strong or handsome or smart or popular like my older brother, Jesús. He was “el molde” (the mold) I would never be a good copy of him. She said that I might never find a girlfriend or get married—so it was good that I was learning to take care of myself. It freaked me out. I wanted to be strong, handsome, smart, and popular like my brother, Jesús. I never felt like I was. I was just a bad copy...”

“At Angelita’s, my favorite food was a plain bean burrito in a flour tortilla. It was simple, but tasty! I loved bean burritos. They were my comfort food. They were my “little friends!” For my first day at school, my aunt made me three of them. She wrapped them up tightly in aluminum foil and then packed them in a brown paper sack. At lunchtime, in the cafeteria, I got ready to greet my little friends. I was nervous, as it was my first day of school, but I knew the burritos would soon warm my stomach and comfort me. I looked around the lunch room and saw other kids with their cafeteria trays and their perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crust neatly trimmed off and their bottle of juices and bags of Fritos and then . . . I pulled out a burrito. “Hey! What’s that?” A gringa girl shouted at me, pointing at my burrito. “Uh . . . nothing! Nada!” I replied as I quickly shoved it back into the sack. I was hungry, but every time I got ready to pull one out, it seemed as if there was another kid ready to stare and point at me. I was embarrassed! I loved my burritos, but in that cafeteria, I was ashamed of them. They suddenly felt very heavy and cold. They suddenly felt very Mexican. I was ashamed of my little friends and so . . . I went hungry.”

“My mother said she already knew how I was. She could tell I was like that since I was a baby. She told me a story about when I was a toddler. She said that one day, she heard an alarm clock ringing in her room and when she went inside, she saw me bent over it. When she got closer, she could she me shaking baby powder on it!“What are you doing, Joey?” She asked me.“Baby crying,” was my reply.”

“One day, I saw a tiny nopalito (cactus sapling) growing not too far from an old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house in Zacatecas. I told my mom that I would protect it from the wind and that I would water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and strong. My mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's a nopalito, it is it's struggle that makes it so beautiful...”

“There's a reason why car's have big windshields, but small rear-view mirrors...”

“Come my friend, for tonight we go to war...”

“‎10 SUGGESTIONS FOR LIVING A MORE MEANINGFUL LIFE 1. Be honest with everyone. 2. Change before you have to. 3. Control your own destiny or someone else will. 4. Face reality as it is, not as it was... or as you wish it to be. 5. Instill in others- faith, hope and self-confidence. 6. If you can't develop a competitive attitude or have a competitive advantage, don't try to compete. You'll lose. 7. Don't waste your time always looking for shortcuts. 8. Man-up when necessary. 9. Never lose faith in God. 10. Love.”

“Out of the blue, someone can just walk into your life, and make you realize why things never worked out with anyone else. And this is the person you were meant to be with... forever.”

“Ive created a new drink! I'm calling it the Piñata Colada! Its sweet and tasty, but when you wake up the next morning your head feels like its been hitten with a stick.”