in Latin America reality surpasses fiction. - Elena Poniatowska

The ultimate outcome of our ­actions cannot be known. But despite our limited awareness, I believe we must always act with compassion.

Life is very resistant. People-the same cannon fodder that nourishes great universal misfortunes, "the wretched of the earth," as Frantz Fanon called them. Suddenly, during an earthquake, one of them saves a life.

The question of being encouraged or discouraged by this or that event cannot be asked if one is to go on with a certain moral conviction.