Juana Inés de la Cruz

It always brings me more joy only to fix riches in my intellect and never my intellect fix on riches.

Juana Inés de la Cruz, O.S.H. (English: Joan Agnes of the Cross; 12 November 1651 – 17 April 1695), was a self-taught scholar and poet of the Baroque school, and Hieronymite nun of New Spain, known in her lifetime as "The Tenth Muse."

Quotes

• ¿En perseguirme, mundo, qué interesas?
  ¿En qué te ofendo, cuando sólo intento
  poner bellezas en mi entendimiento
  y no mi entendimiento en las bellezas?
  • O World, why do you wish to persecute me?
    How do I offend you, when I intend
    only to fix beauty in my intellect,
    and never my intellect fix on beauty?
    • Sonnet 146, as translated by Edith Grossman in Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Selected Works (2014)

• Yo no estimo tesoros ni riquezas;
  y así, siempre me causa más contento
  poner riquezas en mi pensamiento
  que no mi pensamiento en las riquezas.
  • I do not set store by treasures or riches;
    and therefore it always brings me more joy
    only to fix riches in my intellect
    and never my intellect fix on riches.
    • Sonnet 146, as translated by Edith Grossman in Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Selected Works (2014)
      • Alternate translation: I do not value treasures or riches; it always gives me more pleasure to put wealth in my thought than thought in my wealth.

Quotes about Juana Inés de la Cruz

• Who is a revolutionary woman? A revolutionary woman wants change, not mere cosmetic change but change to the status quo, and she is willing to sacrifice to make this happen. We have some extraordinary examples: Sojourner Truth, Las Adelitas, Frida Kahlo, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Dorothy Day, Malala Yousafzai, Coretta Scott King, and others.
  • Dolores Huerta "Reflections on Revolutionary Women" in Revolutionary Women of Texas and Mexico by Kathy Sosa (2020)

• As we have seen, those inspired by divine inspiration were amazingly steadfast. To cite just one example, the Mexican nun Sor Juana de la Cruz, when chastised by her confessor for her presumption in writing verse, replied that she could not help it and could not control her ability to do so; it came naturally to her and therefore must be a gift from God. From this she reasoned that she was entitled to write verse.
  • Gerda Lerner The Creation of Feminist Consciousness (1993)

• Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz left behind many writings and, above all, inspiration for all women, for all time.
  • Elizabeth Martinez, 500 Years of Chicana Women's History/500 Años de la Mujer Chicana (2008)

• The story of feminist Latinas spreads across centuries and is rich in heroines who demolish the stereotype of the "passive Latin woman." The landmarks are numerous in Mexico, from the openly feminist seventeenth-century intellectual Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz, a nun, to the first feminist congress of 1911 and the suffrage movement of the 1930s.
  • Elizabeth Martinez, De Colores Means All of Us (1998)

• Sor Juana defended her case for learned women and stated that women should be able to study if they wish. She cites learned Jewish and pagan women, as well as Christian; St. Catherine of Egypt, Ste. Gertrude, Ste. Paula, Ste. Theresa of Avila, among others. She also quotes part of the Bible in favor women's learning. She dared to argue and questioned St. Paul's meaning of 'Mulieres in ecclesia taceant, (let women be quiet in church.) Sor Juana spoke as to the wisdom of learning adding that unqualified men would be better off not studying since a little bit of learning can be dangerous in the hands of madmen. As an example, she cited the Heresiarchs, founders and leaders of a heretical sect.
  • Enriqueta Vasquez The Women of La Raza: An Epic History of Chicana / Mexican-American Peoples (2016)

• Although Sor Juana abandoned her writing, the calibre of the body of work she left Mexico remains unparalleled. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz soared as the most enlightened daughter of the new world. She challenged the foundation of the European Christian institution in her natural law perspective and understanding of the universe. Fearless, Sor Juana left the continent a mandate regarding the rights of women to think.
  • Enriqueta Vasquez The Women of La Raza: An Epic History of Chicana / Mexican-American Peoples (2016)

• Like other pioneer women in American history, Sor Juana Inès paved the road to education and intellectuality for women. To America, she left a vision of the woman of the future, a legacy that continues in the mind and spirit of future generations. Today, women learn and nurture the child of the true Humanity that exists within all of us. To Mexico, Sor Juana's legacy stands as the patria with a clearer vision of itself and its people; an identity that set the stage for independence. In her universal thinking, Sor Juana challenged the control and exploitation of Mexico by Spain's most archconservative institution, the Church.
  • Enriqueta Vasquez The Women of La Raza: An Epic History of Chicana / Mexican-American Peoples (2016)

• Some of the greatest Latin American poets have been women. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Gabriela Mistral, María Sabina, and Violeta Parra are among them, but their true place in the history of poetry has yet to be fully acknowledged...Sor Juana, who was the principal poet of the Americas in the seventeenth century, fought for the right of women to write and paid with her life.
  • Cecilia Vicuña The Oxford Book of Latin American Poetry (2009)

External links

• The Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Project
• Sor Juana, the Poet: The Sonnets' at National Endowment for the Humanities
• Sor Juana, la poetisa: Los sonnets at National Endowment for the Humanities
• Six sonnets in Spanish with English translations
• The Imperfect Sex: Why Is Sor Juana Not a Saint? by Jorge Majfud
• Academic resource on the poetry of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
• On-line facsimile edition of Sor Juana's Fama y obras posthumas