"Nobody is ready for death. If you ask Joe Blow on the street, he aint gonna tell you he thinks he'll live forever. But when the end is near you'll realize you've been believing that all along. It's li..."
- Cristina García
"Santería was traditionally an unacknowledged and underappreciated aspect of what it meant to be Cuban. Yet the syncretism between the Yoruban religion that the slaves brought to the island and the Cat..."
"I resent the hell out of the politicians and generals who force events on us that structure our lives, that dictate the memories we'll have when we're old."
"The war that killed my grandfather and great-uncles and thousands of other blacks is only a footnote in our history books."
"For me, the sea was a great comfort, Pilar. But it made my children restless. It exists now so we can call and wave from opposite shores."
"We speak in Spanish when we make love. English seems an impossible language for intimacy."
"Before you know it you'll be my age telling your own granddaughter the story of your life and you wanna make it an interesting one, don't you? You wanna be able to tell her some adventures, some excit..."
"Papi, I don't know what to do anymore." Lourdes begins to cry. "No matter what I do, Pilar hates me.""Pilar doesn't hate you, hija. She just hasn't learned to love you yet."
"There are white people who know how to act politely to blacks, but deep down you know they're uncomfortable. They're worse, more dangerous than those who speak their minds, because they don't know wha..."
"For many years in Cuba, nobody spoke of the problem between blacks and whites. It was considered too disagreeable to discuss. But my father spoke to me clearly so that I would understand what happened..."