In "Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz" ("The Reply to Sor
Philothea de la Cruz"), the author Sor (Sister) Juana Inés de la Cruz gave God the
credit for her love of learning and studying, even in the face of a good deal of
resistance by those around her.
What is true and I will not deny (first because
it is public knowledge and then—even if this counts against me— because God, in His
goodness, has favored me with a great love of the truth) is that from my first glimmers
of reason, my inclination to letters was of such power and vehemence, that neither the
reprimands of others— and I have received many—nor my own considerations—and there have
been not a few of those—have succeeded in making me abandon this natural impulse which
God has implanted in me . .
.
Juana Inés de la Cruz was a
voracious reader very young, and though she was scolded and told she could not read, she
would sneak into her grandfather's library to read his books, and she was in good part,
self-taught. She was considered a prodigy at a young age, when she started to attract
considerable
attention.
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