Quotessence
Home / Topics / Latino Quotes

Latino Quotes

Browse 382 quotes about Latino.

Related topics

PeopleBlackAfrican AmericanCommunityWhiteThinkingAmericaAsianIfsWayCountryWantKnowsCultureMenTryingLooksGroupsWellsChildrenGayHispanicMatterTogetherImmigrationMexicanNeedsPartyReasonRepublicanWorldYearsDifferentHelpingImportantMeanNumbersOpportunityProblemProudRaceBigsFilmFirstsIssuesMadeTrumpVotersBelieveBlack PeopleFeelsFightingGivingImmigrantsKindLanguageRolesShowsColorDoneEconomicGrowingHas BeensJobsLongNativeNative AmericanPoorPresidentStatesStoriesTodayUnitedVoteYoung

Latino Quotes

“The US education system works well, just not for lower-SES students, it's said. Ravitch and friends would take credit for successes in the segment of the population where educational quality has less impact and relinquish responsibility for the children for whom educational quality matters most. Rather than focusing narrowly on the undeniably large role of poverty in poor achievement, we might also focus on the undeniably large role that education could play in improving outcomes.”

BlackEducationPovertyRacismInjusticeLiteracyLatinoRacism In AmericaLatinaHispanic American
Book:Language at the Speed of Sight
Create image

“The either/or proposition that forces you to choose between your community and, say, your country has never been true. The very skills we learn to cross borders within ourselves help us to cross borders toward others outside our community.”

LiteratureEmpathyBordersLatinoHispanicLatinaMexican AmericanChicanoChicanaNepantla
Book:Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds
Create image

“Kolonia Santita imesambaa dunia nzima. Hapa Meksiko wana magenge rafiki zaidi ya mia moja yakiwemo makubwa kabisa katika Latino ya Matamolos na Baja California. Nikitekwa nyara na memba yoyote wa magenge hayo, kuna uwezekano mkubwa wasinifanye chochote au nisilipe chochote kwa sababu ya Wanda. Fadhila ya uhalifu. Kwa sababu ya fadhila ya uhalifu; baba, au viongozi wengine wa serikali ambao watoto wao wamo ndani ya 'mpango' huo, wanatakiwa wawakingie kifua (kwa namna yoyote wanayoweza) pindi wanapoanguka katika mikono ya dola na sheria. Wasipofanya hivyo kutakuwa na vita ya ndani kwa ndani … kama unanielewa. Hivyo, kuna mtu anaitwa El Tigre – baba yake Wanda – ndiye ninayetaka unisaidie. Amemuua Marciano, na watu wengi wa Meksiko. Nataka kumlipia kisasi Marciano, na marafiki zangu wengi ambao El Tigre amewaua, hata kwa njia isiyodhahiri.”

ChildrenWarFatherCrimeFriendsVitaLatinoBabaDuniaKolonia SantitaWatotoJohn Murphy AmbilikileWandaMeksikoSheriaMarafikiEl TigreDunia NzimaKisasiBaja CaliforniaDolaMarcianoMpelelezi Wa Tume Ya DuniaMtoto Wa Rais Wa MeksikoUhalifuBaba Yake WandaDebbie Parocinio AbregoFadhila Ya UhalifuMatamolosWanda S Dad
Book:Kolonia Santita
Create image

“I have been accused of being a bully. I think a lot of that stems from precisely my resistance to feel like I need to do the emotional labor of making people feel comfortable about what I’m saying. In particular, as a Latino scholar doing work in bilingual education, I’m particularly resistant to the idea that I need to make white people feel comfortable doing work in bilingual education. I put my work out there. I let it speak for itself. I certainly have never targeted anyone individually and personally insulted them, which is what bullying actually is, right?”

BullyingLatinoBilingualLatinxBilingual Education
Author:Nelson Flores
Create image

“During the late 1960s and 1970s, Mexican American and Puerto Rican activists put forward a politically charged critique of American politics. Bringing together a paradoxical mix of cultural nationalism, liberal reformism, radical critique, andromantic idealism, the Chicano and Puerto Rican movements created a new political vocabulary, one emphasizing resistance, recognition, cultural pride, authenticity, and fraternity (hermanidad). The movements-organizations, issues, and events left a profound legacy.”

American PoliticsLatinoPuerto Rico1970sChicanoLatino HistoryPuerto Rican MovementLatinx History
Book:The Trouble with Unity: Latino Politics and the Creation of Identity
Create image

“In college I was an editorial cartoonist for my school paper, The Daily Aztec...I did straight, news-oriented editorial cartoons. Occasionally, my Chicano background snuck in to the toons simply because I might do a César Chavez toon about how the School Student Board was too stupidly racist to allow him to speak on campus or other anti-frat toons on how they were so racist in doing fund-raisers for Tijuana kid charities--dressed in sombreros and begging with tin cups (from an interview in the book Attitude, 2002)”

RacismLatinoCartoonistCultural AppropriationLatinxPolitical CartoonsCesar ChavezFraternitiesSan Diego State University
Author:Lalo Alcaraz
Create image

“There are hundreds of miracles within a single machine. Americans calmly explain these with mathematical formulas. Our difficulty is to learn, theirs to appreciate. We Latins, even the most intelligent of us, still count on our fingers and toes. But once we do learn, we shall surpass the Americano, because we understand the spiritual significance of a machine. We see the beauty of combining gas, grease and steel into a powerful, exact movement. We appreciate the material destiny of the universe.”

MachinesMexicoEngineeringMachineryLatinoRomanticismLatin AmericaIndustrial RevolutionIndustrializationAmerican EducationCentral America
Book:The Goblins of Eros
Create image

“Before Trump, conservatives seeking to appeal to Latinos typically embraced the politics of conservative multiculturalism. Politicians such as George W. Bush reached out to Latino voters by showing a familiarity with their language and history, emphasizing the values of diversity and inclusion. Depicting Latinos as a distinct and valuable part of America’s democratic mosaic, conservative multiculturalism connected Latino culture to Republican values, emphasizing conservative approaches to faith, patriotism and the traditional family. Trump, by contrast, knows nothing of the history of Latinos in the United States and rarely even pretends to find value in Latinos’ distinct identities. Rather than offering his non-White voters recognition, Trump has offered them multiracial whiteness.”

TrumpRepublican PartyLatinoDonald TrumpRepublicansConservativesGeorge W BushBush2020 Election
Author:Cristina Beltrán
Create image

“Usiwe na wasiwasi, Peter. Hizo ni hisia zangu tu. Huwezi kuwa mpelelezi. Lakini, kusema ule ukweli, ningependa sana kuonana na John Murphy. Kuna kazi binafsi ningependa kumpa. Wewe unatoka Afrika, hujawahi kumwona?” Debbie alizidi kumshtua Murphy. “Nani?” Murphy aliuliza huku akitabasamu. “John Murphy wa Afrika.” “Sijawahi kumwona. Mbona unamuulizia hivyo?” Debbie alitulia. Kisha akarusha nywele ili aone vizuri. “Nampenda sana!” “Kwa nini?” “Simpendi kwa mahaba, lakini.” “Ndiyo. Kwa nini?” “OK. Nampenda kwa kipaji chake. Alichopewa na Mungu, cha ujasusi. Kusaidia watu.” “Ahaa!” Murphy alidakia, sasa akifikiri sana. “Murphy ana mashabiki wengi hapa Meksiko bila yeye mwenyewe kujua, kwa sababu ya kupambana na wahalifu wa madawa ya kulevya – hasa wa huku Latino. Tatizo lake haonekani. Wengi hudhani ni hadithi tu, kwamba hakuna mtu kama huyo hapa duniani.” “Hapana! Murphy yupo! Ni mfanyabiashara maarufu huko Tanzania. Lakini ndiyo hivyo kama unavyosema ... Haonekani!”

PeopleWorldGodFansTalentIntelligenceCriminalsIntimacyPeterFairy TaleBusinessmanAfricaLatinoMurphyLegendDuniaWatuTanzaniaAssignmentJohn MurphyKaziAfrikaDebbie Patrocinio AbregoKipajiDebbieMeksikoMadawa Ya KulevyaSpecial AgentMashabikiHadithiMpeleleziUjasusiHisiaJohn Murphy Wa AfrikaMahabaMfanyabiasharaWahalifu
Book:Kolonia Santita
Create image

“...my racial identity is a concept that escapes intellectual conversations about race. My personal experiences contradict the idea that Latino is only an ethnicity and not a race. But suggesting that Latino should be a race confounds the situation even more, because we are all so different and experience the world differently, though the same could be said of any other racial group. When others state, 'Latino is not a race, it's an ethnicity,' they ignore that not all Latinos have the same ethnicity, either. And though we don't all share the same ethnicity, the exact language, religion, customs, culture, food, and so forth, and though we are not the only ethnic group in America, we are the only people who are singled out by our ethnicity.”

RaceLatinoEthnicityPocMexican AmericanRace Relations In AmericaChicano
Book:You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
Create image

“Latin not Lethal (The Sonnet) Yes I am latino and proud, That doesn't make me a thug. Yes I am brown in color and loud, That doesn't mean I'm a lethal bug. Some of us can't speak English, That doesn't make us second-rate. We care for family as much as you, In friendship we walk to the world's end. Savage imperialists walked on our corpses, While they snatched our lands and homes. Yet you call us illegal and dangerous, Showing no remorse or desire to atone! None of us can undo the past I know. Our kids may walk together, let's make sure.”

RacismLatinoSonnetHate CrimeIllegal ImmigrationLatin AmericanMexican AmericanPeople Of ColorLatinxHispanic American
Book:Earthquakin' Egalitarian: I Die Everyday So Your Children Can Live
Create image

“I hated seeing these spasmodic upside-down chicken heads stretching to puncture my flesh. I imagined once that they reached my groin and pecked out my penis and my huevos and kept pecking until they got to my gut and my eyes and my brain, until I was just a pecked-out piece of human meat surrounded by thousands of nervous, dirty white chickens. I think that was about the time I fucked up a pair of chicken heads against a warehouse wall when no one was looking. Well, almost no one. Rueben was right behind me, and that's when he grinned his stupid grin. Maybe he hated the chickens as much as I did. Maybe he just knew que ya me iba también a la chingada. Maybe I was going on my first joy ride to hell and back, and it was fun to watch.”

StoriesImmigrantsTexasFamily RelationshipsLatinoShort StoriesImmigrant ExperienceShort Story CollectionChicanoSergio TroncosoHispanic AmericanImmigrant FictionEl Paso TexasHispanic Identity
Book:The Last Tortilla & Other Stories
Create image

“It was ironic, really, that the only reason I became eligible to adjust my status was because I married a U.S. citizen. I laugh when I think about the many times my mom told me, 'You have to be independent. You have to make your own money. Don't depend on a man!' I did. I made my own money. But I still needed a man to save me from my illegality.”

MexicanLatinoImmigrantMexican AmericanChicanoUndocumented
Book:You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
Create image

“We live in a country where there are more than 60 million Latinos, making up almost a fifth of the American population. But we aren't the ones narrating our own story; rather we became subjects at the mercy of someone else finding us worthy of taking up space in the world. Until our history, struggles, and unique experiences are unearthed, the whole country will suffer because the American story will remain incomplete. It's incredible what our people have survived in this country, and how little Americans of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds know about it. When our rich past is kept from us, it leaves people to believe that we belong somewhere else—outside this country. Without an accurate telling of our history, we cannot fully address problems that are rooted in the past. When we are viewed as foreigners, our issues become someone else's problems—not America's problems.”

American HistoryMexicanLatinoRace Relations In AmericaChicano
Book:You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
Create image

“Reclaiming my identity has been a painful birthing process. Something beautiful has been born, but not without blood and tears. The Latino identity is complex...even the very words we use to describe our community cause controversy. How we are counted in official forms like the census have created unintended consequences, or maybe it's by design that we are treated as America's bastard child, as perpetual foreigners no matter how many generations ago we became American.”

MexicanLatinoLatino Identity
Book:You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
Create image

“These nativists—these racists—imagine a U.S. utopia of white people that has never existed. We've been here. Mexicans, and more broadly Latinos, have have never invaded Texas. Our land was stolen, and now we're the ones who are viewed as thieves. White supremacy doesn't care if we are here legally, or if we were born here, or if our families have roots in America dating back centuries, perhaps even longer than theirs. The fear many white people have is not whether we will assimilate, but whether our Latino bodies, and those of our children, will roam this land.”

ImmigrationMexicanLatinoAssimilation
Book:You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
Create image

“Why don't you speak English? Why don't you speak Spanish? Being Latino in America means the answer to both of these questions holds us to an impossible standard to prove we're both sufficiently American and authentically Latino. I am tired of the interrogation, the unattainableness, the in-betweenness. I am enough to stand on both sides, fully and completely.”

MexicanLatinoMexican American
Book:You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
Create image

“The collective memory of every Latino people includes direct or indirect (neo-)colonialism, primarily by Spain or Portugal and later by the United States. Among Latinos, Mexicans in what we now call the Southwest have experienced US colonialism the longest and most directly, with Puerto Ricans not far behind”

United StatesColonialismSpainLatinoPortugalPuerto RicoMexicansLatino HistorySouthwestern UsPuerto Rican History
Book:De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century
Create image

“Both Chicano and Puerto Rican activists continually stressed the importance of community control of local institutions, arguing that oppression and inequality would never end until Chicanos and Puerto Ricans controlled the institutions that directly affected community life.”

CommunityCivil RightsLatinoPuerto RicoChicanoLatino HistoryPuertoricoChicano History
Book:The Trouble with Unity: Latino Politics and the Creation of Identity
Create image

“Rather than speaking in terms of specific and distinct subgroups (Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, etc.) ‘Latino’ and ‘Hispanic’ have become the shorthand designation of choice among journalists, politicians, advertising executives, academics, and other influential elites.”

JournalismLatinoAcademiaHispanicPuerto RicoMexican AmericanMexican AmericansPuerto RicansCuban AmericanDominican American
Book:The Trouble with Unity: Latino Politics and the Creation of Identity
Create image

“I held Angie Luna in that room for hours, and I remember the different times we made love like epochs in a civilization, each movement and every touch, apex upon abyss. In the luxury of our bed, we tried every position and every angle. I explored the curves on her body and delighted in seeing the freedom of her ecstasy. Her desperate whispers and pleas. I told her I loved her, and she said she loved me too. We lay in bed with our limbs entangled, in a pacific silence that reminded me of existing on a beach just for the sake of such an existence. I couldn't imagine the world ever becoming better, and for some strange reason the thought slipped into my head that I had suddenly grown to be an old man because I could only hope to repeat, but never improve on, a night like this. I finally took her home sometime when the interstate was empty, and the bridges seemed to lead to nowhere, for they were desolate too.”

LoveStoriesLiteratureRelationshipsLoversLove StoryLatinoShort StoriesHispanicMexican AmericanChicanoSergio TroncosoMexican Americans
Book:The Last Tortilla & Other Stories
Create image

“Again, this week as I walked on Broadway, in front of giant photographs of voluptuous supermodels at a Victoria Secret mega-store, who was rebuilding the sidewalks? With sweaty headbands, ripped-up jeans, and dust on their brown faces? Their muscled hands quivered as they worked the jack-hammers and lugged the concrete chunks into dump trucks. Two men from Guanajuato. Undocumented workers. They both shook my hand vigorously, as if they were relieved I wasn’t an INS officer. I imagined how much money Victoria Secret was making off these poor bastards. I wondered why passersby didn’t see what was in front of their faces. We use these workers. We profit from them. In the shadows, they work to the bone, for pennies. And it’s so easy to blame them for everything and nothing simply because they are powerless, and dark-skinned,and speak with funny accents. Illegal is illegal. It is a phrase, shallow and cruel, that should prompt any decent American to burn with anger.”

ImmigrantsLatinoHispanicIllegal ImmigrationImmigrant ExperienceChicanoSergio TroncosoUndocumented WorkersImmigrant Values
Book:Crossing Borders: Personal Essays
Create image

“A group of ten prisoners from Dachau, I was with them, we hid in the forest to wait for the Americans. The Germans had already left everything behind. We had food but no weapons. For days we could hear bombs exploding around us. We just wanted to survive long enough for the Americans to control the territory. We didn’t want to die. At that point, our prison uniforms were the only things to keep us from being shot on the spot by the Americans. That was all we had. Who would the Americans believe? Real prisoners or guards dressed as prisoners? Those devils might even say we were the Germans. This was our nightmare.”

LiteratureRighteousnessLatinoNovelsHomophobiaMurder MysteryHispanicYaleAntisemitismHolocaust DenialChicanoSergio TroncosoYale UniversityPhilosophy LiteratureHispanic IdentityLatino LiteraturePhilosophical NovelsRighteous Gentile
Book:The Nature of Truth
Create image

“It’s a great honor, m’ijo. We know that. I’m sure everyone in Ysleta is proud of you. But this is who you are," she said, for a moment scanning the dark night air and the empty street. A cricket chirped in the darkness. "God help you when you go to this ‘Havid.’ You will be so far away from us, from everything you know. You will be alone. What if something happens to you? Who’s going to help you? But you always wanted to be alone; you were always so independent, so stubborn." "Like you.”

CultureEducationImmigrantsLatinoHarvardAssimilationHispanicImmigrant ExperienceChicanoSergio TroncosoImmigrant Fiction
Book:From This Wicked Patch of Dust
Create image

“Julia, is everything all right?” her father said in a raspy voice. “It’s three in the morning, m’ija.” “I’m sorry. I have to talk to you; it’s something very important. Papá, Mamá, I’ve made a decision, and I wanted to share it with you. I’ve decided to convert to the Muslim religion.” “What?” Pilar screamed. “Are you out of your mind?” “Julia, what are you saying?” “I want to be a Muslim. I’ve even chosen a new Muslim name, Aliyah.” “Julia, are you drunk?” “No, Papá, I’m not drunk. I’ve thought about this for a very long time. I think it’s the right thing for me, a way to follow God.”

ReligionFamilyImmigrantsFamily LifeReligious FaithLatinoAssimilationHispanicImmigrant ExperienceFamily SagaChicanoSergio TroncosoImmigrant FictionReligious Conversions
Book:From This Wicked Patch of Dust
Create image

“But Anja. I hear Anja's voice. Maybe I am insane. I hear her crying. I see her alone in the trees. I remember being alone and humiliated. I remember, too, the fat little boy hiding in the bathroom. And I see this man, Ariane. I see this evil man, Ariane. He laughs everyday still. He has had years of laughter. He has triumphed over the screams of others, he has triumphed with blood on his hands. And he laughs still. God has cursed us! He has either cursed us or He was never here to begin with. We've pretended God was here for our own sanity! That's the truth! We've pretended evil is punished and good is rewarded. A perfect scheme!”

MurderRighteousnessHolocaustLatinoRight And WrongHispanicAntisemitismHolocaust LiteratureSergio TroncosoYale UniversityJews And Judaism In EuropeRighteous Gentile
Book:The Nature of Truth
Create image