Diane Guerrero Quotes

We don't do all our growing up between birth and adolescence or even our twenties. If we're fortunate, we never stop.

Our passions don't just compel us; they can also heal us.

My work on Orange has taught me this: Human beings are not categorically bad because of their mistakes. They can learn from their errors and get back on track. No one should be forever written off because of one part of his or her history.

Truth is, among low-wage earners busting their tails to make the rent, one’s feelings are seldom discussed or acknowledged. Emotional wellness is a First World luxury.

The day you finally start dealing with your past is the day you stop dragging it into the present.

You've gotta be careful who you share your big dreams with. People often piss on them. Some will even talk you out of your aspirations, mostly because they've given up on their own.

Just as one moment can bring despair, it can also lead to a new beginning. A different life. A dream for moving onward and upward rather than backward.

In some ways, the heartache we feel for our loved ones is deeper, rawer, than any we could feel for ourselves.

That was one thing I could be sure of, that my mother loved me. Fuck anyone who tried to come between us.

I am an intelligent woman. I am a good person and a loving daughter. I matter, and what I have to offer also matters. I can forgive myself for whatever I did yesterday, because today is a new day.

The worst thing I could’ve done would have been to deny myself the opportunity because of fear or feeling like I didn’t deserve it.

Even in the best of times, life is a mixed bag of disappointments and triumphs, heartaches and highs. Life hands out all of the above, and we don't get to pick how many of each we'll get, or in what order they'll show up. But we do get to choose how we'll walk through our days. Whether we'll cower under our covers ever morning, or rise up to take on the challenges.

Some people shy away from boldly claiming what they most wish for. Maybe they fear it'll make them look pushy. Or greedy. Or ungrateful for what they have. But when you keep your dreams hidden away, when you hide them under a sofa cushion, they never get the light they need to grow

Your failures don’t define you,” she continued. “Your worth isn’t about what you do or don’t do. You have value simply because you’re here.

Emotional wellness is a First World luxury.

Service to others- I believe that's the purpose every person on the planet shares.

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old. They grow old because they stop pursuing dreams. —GABRIEL “GABITO” GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, Colombian novelist and recipient of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature

I’d never been to Colombia. Yet in a way, I felt like I’d gone a dozen times. That’s because my parents kept Eric and me connected to their homeland. They played the music, prepared the foods, told us stories from their childhoods.

The worst thing I could’ve done would have been to deny myself the opportunity because of fear or feeling like I didn’t deserve it. It was one of those times when I really saw the power of having a dream and making it come true, no matter the obstacles.

The day you finally start dealing with your past is the day you stop dragging it into the present. I’m still dealing. I’m still facing the hard stuff. I’m still getting better and growing up. In J, I’ve found a man who’s willing to take that long road with me. *

With a heart still burdened from a level of loss and grief I'd wish upon no one, Mami mustered the courage, with Eric on her hip, to set out for a foreign land. A nation where she didn't speak the language. A country that provided a haven from the poverty and violence and despair she was desperate to flee. Along the way, she fell down, got up, and then toppled to her knees again. But in the end, she always got up. She crawled back to her feet. She stood. And she deserved not my contempt but my deepest admiration.

With just about every script, in almost every corner of the set, I was faced with the truth: This was my parents' life. My mother had sat in handcuffs; my father had once worn an orange jumpsuit like the dozens that sat folded in our wardrobe department. For the other actors and me on our show, this was all fantasy, the re-creation of a world we knew little about; for Mami and Papi, it could not have been any more real or painful...I've had so many scenes in which Flaca & I are doing the dirty work, like cleaning the kitchen or mopping the floors, which is when I think of my parents most. Long before they ended up in prison, they'd spent years handling the nastiest jobs, the ones often avoided by others. Manual labor. Low pay. No respect. They must've felt so trapped. It must've been so hard for them to maintain their dignity when others looked down on them or, worse, didn't see them at all.

What would it be like for us to go to HomeGoods and pick out a mirror or a little chair? How would it feel to be able to say, “Hey, Mami—how would this look in the living room?” Those are the little things I miss. And when you think about it, they aren’t little things at all. They’re the experiences that, one moment at a time, make up a life.

By some estimates, you and I will cross paths with as many as eighty thousand people during our lifetimes. Many of the folks we’ll encounter will be passing acquaintances. Others will be family, friends, and coworkers who remain in our lives for decades. If even one of those people has a lasting impact on us, we’re fortunate.

You scared?” she asked. “Yes,” I answered. “I know,” she said. “What you’re going through is scary.” A wave of comfort washed over me. My friend hadn’t urged me to be strong. She hadn’t told me to stand tall or soldier on. She hadn’t uttered the shallow reassurance that I’d get through this. Rather, she’d given me permission, right before sleep, to be the frightened little girl that I was.

There are years that ask questions and years that answer,” Zora Neale Hurston once wrote.

We don’t do all our growing up between birth and adolescence or even our twenties. If we’re fortunate, we never stop.

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass. —MAYA ANGELOU, poet and novelist

It took so much courage to let myself be seen and heard as I am... And for once I was not afraid. Someone wise once said there are only two emotions - fear and love - and it's impossible to feel them at the same time. On that morning, in that room, I was surrounded by love alone.

ran. You take big risks so you can score big victories. You step out because, dammit, you want to be chosen. You want something to show for your effort.

They aren't little things at all. They're the experiences that, one moment at a time, make up a life.

I daydream about reclaiming some of those moments by sharing the simplest things with her. What would it be like for us to go to HomeGoods and pick out a mirror or a little chair? How would it feel to be able to say, "Hey Mami- how would this look in the living room?" Those are the little things I miss...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it another way: “Everyone has the power for greatness, not for fame but greatness, because greatness is determined by service... You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace.

I've written the book I wish I could've read when I was that girl- and my hope is that, in these pages, others will find the solace I once ached for.

But in the world I was raised in, amid the countless media images I took in as a girl, I got this crazy notion that being white and well-heeled and educated made one inherently superior. I thought that being brown and broke, as well as hiding out from authorities for most of my childhood, somehow made me less valuable in the eyes of others and, at moments, in my own eyes.

We don’t do all our growing up between birth and adolescence or even our twenties. If we’re fortunate, we never stop. *

When you're back at the starting line of a race you have no reason to think you'll complete, there isn't much to talk about.

Deported. Long before I fully understood what that word meant, I'd learned to dread it. With every ring of my family's doorbell, with every police car passing on the street, a horrifying possibility hung in the air: My parents might one day be sent back to Colombia. That fear permeated every part of my childhood. Day after day, year after year, my mom and dad tried desperately to become American citizens and keep our family together. They pleaded. They planned. They prayed. They turned to others for help. And in the end, none of their efforts were enough to keep them here in the country we love.

My story represents all that should be celebrated about America. Only here could a daughter of immigrants grow up to succeed in the competitive and exciting world of acting. And only here could a girl like me be invited to have a conversation with the president. I will always cherish those opportunities. And yet my experience in this country also reflects a reality that's still tough for me to face. In a nation that values keeping families together and safeguarding children, I was invisible. Either the immigration officials didn't see me or they chose to turn their heads. I'll never know which. But I do know that as Americans, we can do better than that. We can extend greater compassion. And we can push our leaders to protect the most vulnerable among us. It's one way we can help people who desperately need it.