Pam Muñoz Ryan Quotes

A library is a temple unabridged with priceless treasure. Librarians are the majesties who loan the jewels of measure. They welcome to the kingdom the young and old of reapers and reign among the riches as the wondrous fortune keepers.

I am poor, but I am rich. I have my children, I have a garden with roses, and I have my faith and the memories of those who have gone before me. What more is there?

The needle rocked awkwardly and at the end of her beginning rows, Isabel held up her work to show Esperanza. Mine is all crooked! Esperanza smiled and reached over and gently pulled the yarn, unraveling the uneven stitches. Then she looked into Isabel’s trusting eyes and said, Do not ever be afraid to start over.

We are like the phoenix, said Abuelita. Rising again, with a new life ahead of us.

Oh Esperanza!’ said Isabel, jumping up and down and clapping.’I think my heart is dancing.

I don’t impose any word count or number-of-hours quota on myself, or have any rules, except one: persistence. Nothing glamorous. No epiphanies. Just revisiting and rewriting. For me, momentum is far more important than inspiration.

This is what you learned in college, the narrator tells you early on. A man desires the satisfaction of his desire; a woman desires the condition of desiring.

How many others were walking around and not even knowing that someone far away cared for them? Imagine all that love floating in the air, waiting to land on someone’s life!

You never have to get over it you just have to get on with it.

There is no rose without thorns.

Wait for the fruit to fall into your hand.

Our Land is alive, Esperanza…This whole valley breathes and lives…He picked up a handful of earth and studied it. Did you know that when you lie down on the land, you can feel it breathe? That you can feel its heart beating.