I think what education gives you is a voice. It gives you a way of talking to a judge. When a policeman pulls you off to the side of the road, you ha…

- Richard Rodriguez

Education is that human process of feeling your body mature, feeding your mind with ideas that it never had before, or information you never had. You…

- Richard Rodriguez

I write about race in America in hopes of undermining the notion of race in America.

- Richard Rodriguez

But one does not forget by trying to forget. One only remembers.

- Richard Rodriguez

In some countries, of course, Spanish is the language spoken in public. But for many American children whose families speak Spanish at home, it becom…

- Richard Rodriguez

But America isn't a country of family values; Mexico is a country of family values. This is a country of people who leave home.

- Richard Rodriguez

So, rather than becoming multicultural, rather than becoming a person of several languages, rather than becoming confident in your knowledge of the w…

- Richard Rodriguez

In the Sacramento of the 1950s, it was as though White simply hadn't had time enough to figure Brown out. It was a busy white time. Brown was like th…

- Richard Rodriguez

There are things so deeply personal that they can be revealed only to strangers.

- Richard Rodriguez