Juana Ines de la Cruz

Juana Ines de la Cruz (1651-1695) was a Mexican nun and a poet. She was one of the first major literary figures in the New World and was called the Tenth Muse and the Mexican Nun.

Wisdom & Quotes

• You have brought disgrace on me in making me so famous,

for the light you shed reveals my faults
more cleary, making them stand out.
- En reconocimiento a las inimitables plumas de la Europa (In acknowledgement of the praises of European writers)

• Everything that you receive is not measured according to its actual size, but, rather that of the receiving vessel.

- En reconocimiento a las inimitables plumas de la Europa (In acknowledgement of the praises of European writers)

• As love is union, it knows no extremes of distance.

- Repuesta a Sor Filotea (Reply to Sister Phiolotea)

• Must I dwell in slavery's night

And all pleasure take its flight
Far beyond my feeble sight,
Forever?
- The Slave's Complaint

• In my opinion, better far it be

To destroy vanity within my life
Than to destroy my life in vanity.
- Oh World, Why Do You Thus Pursue Me

Yi Taek