# Quote — Esmeralda Santiago, When I Was Puerto Rican

> For me, the person I was becoming when we left was erased, and another one was created.

- Author: [Esmeralda Santiago](https://www.leafyquotes.com/esmeralda-santiago.md)
- Book: [When I Was Puerto Rican](https://www.leafyquotes.com/esmeralda-santiago/when-i-was-puerto-rican.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Esmeralda_Santiago#When_I_Was_Puerto_Rican_(1993)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/esmeralda-santiago/when-i-was-puerto-rican/for-me-the

## More from this book

> I wondered if men ever talked like this, if their sorrows ever spilled into these secret cadences.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/esmeralda-santiago/when-i-was-puerto-rican/i-wondered-if-men.md)

> What doesn't kill you, makes you fat.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/esmeralda-santiago/when-i-was-puerto-rican/what-doesnt-kill.md)