“Look, words are like the air: they belong to everybody. Words are not the problem; it's the tone, the context, where those words are aimed, and in whose company they are uttered. Of course murderers and victims use the same words, but I never read the words utopia, or beauty, or tenderness in police descriptions. Do you know that the Argentinean dictatorship burnt The Little Prince ? And I think they were right to do so, not because I do not love The Little Prince , but because the book is so full of tenderness that it would harm any dictatorship.”

“Intuition is like reading a word without having to spell it out. A child can't do that because it has had so little experience. A grown-up person knows the word because they've seen it often before.”

“هائلٌ هو الحزن الذى فى مقدور رجل وامرأة أن يخلُقاهفيما بينهما،مثلما هما كبيران ذانك العصفورانالواقفان على الغصن يتناقرانوكبيرةٌ هى الشجرة نفسهامع أمطار تحت الشمسباديةٍ على وجههاستمطر أم لن تمطر؟سيغرّد العصفوران نفساهما؟هل سيدومتدفق ذلك الحزن الهائل مثل بحيرةأو بحرٍ بين رجل وامرأة؟هل سيطير الحزن بين شجرة وشجرة؟مثل خطوات وحيدة فى غرفة؟مثل لآلىء فى الهواء؟مثل ألواح مثل جسورٍ مدمرَّة؟ثمة غُصَين سقط على الغصنطافيا.هائل هو الحزن الذى فى مقدوررجل وامرأة أن يسبّباه لنفسيهمامثلما هو هائل إبحار الغصن فى البحيرةمبتلاً بجسارتهِ ذاتِها.”

“Nosotros arrastramos los pies en ríos de sangre seca, almas que se pegaron a la tierra por amor, no queremos otros mundos que el de la libertad y esta palabra no la palabreamos porque sabemos hace mucha muerte que se habla enamorado y no del amor, se habla claro, no de la claridad, se habla libre, no de la libertad.”

“When we are finished the little boy walks over to me and looks up at my chest. Then he reaches up and cups my breast in his hand. The mother comes over and does the same thing with my other breast. Yes I am the same I nod. Look. I pull up my shirt and unhook my bra. My breasts pop out and they both smile. I think about the Zapotec village in Mexico where I was not accepted until I was wearing their clothes and the Balinese ceremonies I would never have attended in anything but a kebaya and a sarong. I smile when I realize that if I were to live here I would walk around topless. If I weren't with three westerners I would do it right now.”

“And I say to you, on the word of a Prince, I cannot tell how naturally the mother loveth the child, for I was never the mother of any; but certainly, if a Prince and Governor may as naturally and earnestly love her subjects as the mother doth love the child, then assure yourselves that I, being your lady and mistress, do as earnestly and tenderly love and favour you. And I, thus loving you, cannot but think that ye as heartily and faithfully love me.”

“People say to me, ‘How do I know if a word is real?’ You know, anybody who’s read a children’s book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it. That makes it real.”