STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.6, WHST.6-8.4, RI.6-8.4, RI.6-8.6, W.6-8.4

NCSS: Culture • Individual Development and Identity • Civic Ideals and Practices

JUST THE FACTS

Words of Wisdom

In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, get inspired by these thought-provoking quotes from some noteworthy Latinx leaders, thinkers, and doers.

Enlargeable photo of an Afro-Latino baseball player

Photo File/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Anytime you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth.”

—Roberto Clemente (1934-1972), baseball player and humanitarian

Enlargeable photo of Selena Gomez

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

If you are able to look yourself in the mirror every day with the decisions that you make, that’s where the power starts.”

—Selena Gomez (1992-  ), singer and actress

Enlargeable photo of a smiling woman in a judge's black gown

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

It is important for all of us to appreciate where we come from and how that history has really shaped us in ways that we might not understand.”

—Sonia Sotomayor (1954-  ), U.S. Supreme Court justice

Enlargeable photo of a smiling gray haired man wearing a blue shirt

Ulf Andersen/Getty Images

He who awaits much can expect little.”

—Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014), novelist and winner of a Nobel Prize for Literature

Enlargeable photo of a smiling man in an astronaut suit

NASA/S.Dupuis/Alamy Stock Photo

The American dream is the dream of the whole world. Everybody on the planet has dreamsbut this country is where you can make them happen. . . . That’s why I came here.”

—Franklin Chang-Díaz (1950-  ), scientist and NASA astronaut

Enlargeable photo of a smiling woman in colorful clothing with the images of children sown into it

IPA/WENN.com/Alamy Stock Photo

Diversity is our universal nature. We are diverse. The claim that we can coexist, based on . . . mutual respect, on the recognition of the other, on peaceful coexistence, is very important.”

—Rigoberta Menchú (1959-  ), human rights activist and winner of a Nobel Peace Prize

Write About It! Choose a quote from this page that stands out to you. Use your own words to summarize what the person is saying. Then explain how his or her message can apply to your own life.

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