Clap When You Land Quotes

“didn’t have a quinceañera at a country club. I’m American-adjacent. With a father who makes—made— enough money to keep me in the school uniform but not enough to contribute to the annual fundraiser or to send me on any of the international trips or to give me a brand-new car over Christmas”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Deadly and graceful, poised and ruthless. Quiet and cunning. A queen offers her hand to be kissed, and can form it into a fist while smiling the whole damn time.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“You do not let your words stunt unknown possibilities”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“the tour guide had this amazing voice that made you want to lean into his words.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Tío Jorge knows how to listen.
Even if all he hears is silence.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“...those are the boys I switch my hips at.

Not because they're cute or interesting---
they're often obnoxious & only want a taste
of my gutter-slick tongue & brownness;

they act as if they could elevate my life with a
taste of their powder-milk-tinged pomp.
No, I date those boys because they are safe.

They can't dance bachata or sing Juan Luis Guerra,
can't recite Salomé Ureńa or even name the forefathers;
they wrap their flag around their shoulders like a safety blanket,

& if a heart has topography,
I know none of those boys know the coordinates
to navigate & survive mine's rough terrain.

In other words, these boys would be no distraction.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Where Papi is always thinking
of how to save another dollar,

I'm dreaming up a Sephora wish list
to request for my next birthday.

Mami stands in front of a stove for hours,
& I would burn an untoasted sandwich.

I am theirs. You can see them on me.
But I am also all mine, mostly.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“But sancocho is a daylong dish to make.
It has many steps; it's making a pact with time
that you will be patient & the outcome will be delicious.

It is browning & boiling. Blending & straining.
It is meat & root vegetables. Herbs & salt.
It is hearty & made from the earth & heart.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“What I wanted. What I wanted.
For so long. How bittersweet
a realized dream can be flavored.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Mami wanted me to be a lady: sit up straight, cross my ankles, let men protect me. Papi wanted me to be a leader. To think quick & strike hard, to speak rarely, but when I did, to always be heard. Me? Playing chess taught me a queen is both: deadly & graceful, poised & ruthless. Quiet & cunning. A queen offers her hand to be kissed, & can form it into a fist while smiling the whole damn time. But what happens when those principles only apply in a game? & in the real world, I am not treated as a lady or a queen, as a defender or opponent but as a girl so many want to strike off the board.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“She gets a glint in her eye like she’s imagining she can repot us, all of us, onto a new planet where we can grow with deep & understanding roots, where we will rise & flourish into tree houses &”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“It is strange to go from being an only child to seeing someone wearing your own face.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“But last year, things changed, & so did I.
So did chess. & if the game taught me one thing,

it's once you lift a pawn off the board,
you have to move it forward. It cannot return where it was.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“They are beautiful. I love them. I love you. You are the only thing that does not hurt.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“But I learned young, you do not speak

of the dying as if they are already dead.
You do not call bad spirits into the room,
& you do not smudge a person's dignity

by pretending they are not
still alive, & right in front of you,
& perhaps about to receive a miracle.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“He said I could be a doctor here. He said
it'd be better for me to visit Colombia the country
than for him to spend money at another fancy school.

I did not laugh with him. He must have realized
his laugh was like one of those paper shredders
making a sad confetti of my hopes.

He did not apologize.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“I take down the trash. I microwave the leftovers.
I wrap myself tight around the feelings I cannot share,

an unopened present, a gift no one wants.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“& if a heart has topography,
I know none of these boys know the coordinates
to navigate & survive mine's rough terrain.

In other words, these boys would be no distraction.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Dre comes from a Southern military family.
She wasn't meant to be a hippie child,

but she's granola to the core. A tree-hugging,
squirrel-feeding, astrology-following vegan.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“The day we first kissed,
I walked into my parents' bedroom

& offered thanks to the little porcelain saint
Papi kept on his armoire:

thank you, thank you.
I whispered to everything that listened.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“If you asked me what I was,

& you meant in terms of culture,
I'd say Dominican.

No hesitation,
no question about it.

Can you be from a place
you have never been?

You can find the island stamped all over me,
but what would the island find if I was there?

Can you claim a home that does not know you,
much less claim you as its own?”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Just let yourself mourn, sweetie.
You can't run from what hurts you,

or like a dog smelling fear,
that grief will just keep chasing with ever-sharp teeth.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“But one thing I learned from the Saints,
when the crossroads are open t you, you must decide a path.
I will not stand still while the world makes my choices.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“I think of how the word unhappy houses
so many unanswered questions.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“I know a man can have many faces & speak out of
both sides of his mouth; I know a man can make decisions

based on the flip of a coin;
a man can be real good at long division,
give away piece after piece after piece of himself.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Mami hates the concept of sleepovers,
says our house has enough beds

& what kind of sheets does someone else have
that I cannot sleep in my own?”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“But I learned young, you do not speak of the dying as if they are already dead.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“it has saved my life on the many days when I need a reminder the world is bigger than the one I know, & its currents are always moving;”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“you are dark and always been beautiful: like the night, like a star after it bursts, like obsidian & onyx & jet precious.
But I know I am beautiful like all & none of those things: far in the sky and deep in the earth
I am beautiful like a dark skinned girl that is right here.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“How could I have known then, there are no rules, no expectations, no rising to the occasion. When you learn news like this, there is only falling.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land