Sandra Cisneros Quotes

If we don't tell our own stories, no one else will.

Writing is powerful. Whether it's a little girl hiding from the Nazis in an attic, or Amnesty International writing letters on behalf of political prisoners, the power of telling stories is usually what causes change.

I believe every one of us possesses a fundamental right to tell our own story.

Women don't have to be defined by others. We have the power to define ourselves: by telling our own stories, in our own words, with our own voices.

Writing is a form of activism.

Previously, someone would interview me, and if they liked me, it'd be a great story. If they hated me, it'd be a horrible story. I had no way to say anything. Social media changed things for people who didn't have a voice.

I have one thing in common with the emerging black nations of Africa: We both have voices, and we are discovering what we can do with them.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.

I think theatre to some extent is always about telling stories, isn't it, and I think what I've learned is that freedom comes when you tell your story; freedom comes when you tell the truth.

The oppressed never free themselves - they do not have the necessary strengths.

I love acting because it's empowering. It empowers me.

There will be no prison which can hold our movement down.

Finally having the freedom to speak is a really liberating feeling.

I have always looked on disobedience toward the oppressive as the only way to use the miracle of having been born.

There's nothing automatic about political change, about liberation.

I believe that everyone has a story, and it is important that we encourage all students to tell theirs.

I'm by no means a pianist. I think that's safe to say, but the piano, for me, I would say it's the enabler. It gave me what I needed and gives me what I need in order to write a song. And I think playing or improvising on the piano is where I feel most liberated and sort of less conscious of all my insecurities or inadequacies.

Video gives people a voice.

My puppets are far more liberated than I am. Ventriloquism is a useful way of expressing myself.

Movements begin when oppressed people make - and keep remaking - a deeply inward decision to stop consenting to external demands that contradict a critical inner truth, the truth that they are worthy of respect.

The great are only great because we are on our knees. Let us rise!

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

An oppressed people will always rise.

When you're talking about an authority figure oppressing against people, it's the people that hold that authority figure up. If you want to get free of this bondage, then we need to think about ways to free ourselves rather than looking to the oppressors to free us.

I seem to have a natural tendency to want to share my own observations and feelings with other people, and writing seems to be the way I'm best equipped to do that.