Luis Alberto Urrea Quotes

Life has never been easy. Nor is it meant to be. It is a matter of being joyous in the face of sorrow.

Life stinks, but that doesn't mean you don't enjoy it.

I was happy in the midst of dangers and inconveniences.

There's a lot of terrible things goin' on all the time, but you gotta try and have some fun in the end.

As might be supposed, my parents were quite poor, but we somehow never seemed to lack anything we needed, and I never saw a trace of discontent or a failure in cheerfulness over their lot in life, as indeed over anything.

Even when we have physical hardships, we can be very happy.

Duisburg was the worst industrial, depressive part of Germany. But it was great. We had nothing, but I didn't miss nothing so that was fine.

I've had a very happy life, and although I have had tragedy, I've never suffered from any darkness.

They took my 30s, my 40s, my 50s, but what they couldn't take was my joy. I couldn't do nothing about the years, but I could control my joy... I kept a smile on my face; I kept love in my heart.

Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house.

So long as I can laugh, never will I be poor.

When you are at the bottom, you find beauty in such little things, and goodness in such little gestures. When I compare any struggle today to ones that I may have had in my childhood, there is nothing that can bring me down.

Even now, when I'm asked how I'm doing, I like to reply, 'Pretty good. I've got all my fingers and both eyes.

I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.

For happiness one needs security, but joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair.

Haiti is an amazing country. Even though the people there have so little, their attitudes resonate a crazy amount of love and joy. It is truly inspiring to see that. My love for the country starts with them.

It is easy to react if everything is going great.

I love life in spite of all that mars it. I love friendship, jokes and laughter.

The most audacious thing I could possibly state in this day and age is that life is worth living. It's worth being bashed against. It's worth getting scarred by. It's worth pouring yourself over every one of its coals.

I am so happy to be alive. That's the one thing I'd like for people to know. Sometimes people walk by and slip up and say the wrong thing about me, and I'll smile. They wonder why am I smiling. Because I'm happy that I'm alive.

Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it.

I just show up and try to find the joy in every situation.

Life is tough; and if you have the ability to laugh at it, you have the ability to enjoy it.

While I didn't have everything that I wanted, I was still a happy kid.

If my world were to cave in tomorrow, I would look back on all the pleasures, excitements and worthwhilenesses I have been lucky enough to have had. Not the sadness, not my miscarriages or my father leaving home, but the joy of everything else. It will have been enough.