Lionel Sosa

“I believe that we are missing a great opportunity. We as Republicans are not really emphasizing what brings us together, and that's conservative values: love of the country. Love of family. Personal responsibility. Hard work. Optimism. Those are the things that we should be communicating to Latinos, and we're doing that very poorly.”

“The Republicans are, 'the party of the rich,' my mom said, 'We're poor, so we're Democrats.' That convinced me. I had no wish to remain poor, so I became a Republican at the age of 12.”

“When I started Sosa & Associates, there were only 3 million Latinos in the U.S. and only four Hispanic-specialized marketing agencies.I had one little goal for our small San Antonio-based agency: to be the largest Hispanic-specialized agency in the United States. We planned for our success and achieved our goal.”

“Anger does not solve problems - anger only makes things worse. I go by the old saying, 'Don't make important decisions when you're angry.'”

“If you lose, you can't lead. If you don't lead, you're irrelevant. Winning is what it's all about in politics.”

“The Latino vote has to be earned just like any other.”

“If college expectations are not taught at home, teach them in school.”

“I'm able to utilize a lifetime of learning to help teach young people how to apply sound marketing strategy and principles for the purpose of growing the client's business. And for me, that's just too much fun.”

“I've been a Republican since age 13, when we got our first television set, and I saw the Republican National Convention on television. And President Eisenhower was talking about personal responsibility, about opening the door for opportunity and that people could really take care of themselves without a lot of government intrusions.”

“Be proud of your Latino culture and do the best work you can do, and you will always succeed.”

“Immigrants have always come into the country with low levels of education. Whether it's the Irish or Italian or Polish, here is the land of opportunity. It's where people come in at the bottom and build themselves up. To try to bring in people who have already made it is un-American.”

“When you're a Republican Latino, you're traveling uphill on a lonely road. Still, it's the road I prefer. It has led me to opportunity far beyond my dreams. I've worked on eight Republican presidential races, as well as for some of the world's largest corporations, all because the doors of opportunity, not the doors of welfare, were open to me.”

“Remember that our Spanish conquerors, for their own benefit, deliberately created an oppressed underclass whose collective psyche became rooted in passivity and underachievement.”

“We talk about what's important to Hispanics: education, family, creating an environment in which you can achieve what you want to achieve because there aren't going to be obstacles in your way.”

“Latinos have enough voting power now to decide elections, and every smart politician knows this.We can't afford to give our vote to those who alienate us, but neither to those who take us for granted.”

“Mexico is so close to us. No matter how long we stay here, we identify as Americans first, but we also have a place for our mother country. That is very visible in San Antonio.”

“My guess is the great majority of teachers would welcome a system where innovation is embraced, where their hard work and their students' achievement are applauded and rewarded.”

“I can't imagine what this great country would be like if the Mexican Revolution hadn't happened.”

“When I say that Latinos share conservative values, when Ronald Reagan said that, we mean the love of family, the love of country, a commitment to personal responsibility, to hard work.”

“I've been a Republican all my life because I embrace the conservative values of hard work, personal freedom, less government and fewer taxes. But I also believe in compassion, inclusion, and helping those who want to help themselves.”