“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 ...”

“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.”

“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 ...”

“Cuando vayamos al maryo te dir mi secreto:Me envuelve, pero no es ola...Me amarga..., pero no es sal...”

“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.”

“We speak in Spanish when we make love. English seems an impossible language for intimacy.”

“The words I Love You kill, and resurrect millions, in less than a second.”

“It wasn't a thing I had consciously missed, but having it now reminded me of the joy of it; that drowsy intimacy in which a man's body is accessible to you as your own, the strange shapes and textu...”

“his yellow eyes gazed at me possessively -- I wondered if he realized that the way he looked at me was far more intimate than copping a feel could ever be.”

“Sex can be used either for self-affirmation or for self-transcendence either to intensify the ego and consolidate the social persona by some kind of conspicuous embarkation and heroic conquest, or...”

“He didn't know all that much about how the machinery worked anyway. Such knowledge was for specialists. In war, as in love, he was a fearless, happy-go-lucky adventurer.”

“If she did experience sex--or something close to it--in high school, I'm sure it would have been less out of sexual desire or love than literary curiosity.”