Quotes by Amy Tan

What should we do?, I asked, and I had a pained feeling I thought was the beginning of love. In those early months we clung to each other with a rather silly desperation, because, in spite of everything my mother or Mrs Jordan could say, there was nothing that really prevented us from seeing each other. With imagined tragedy hovering over us, we became inseparable, two halves creating the whole: yin and yang. I was victim to his hero. I was always in danger and he was always rescuing me. I would fall and he would lift me up. It was exhilarating and draining. The emotional effect of saving and being saved was addicting to both of us. And that, as much as anything we ever did in bed, was how we made love to each other: conjoined where my weaknesses needed protection.

Even when I worked in that world, I still wanted love so strong that the man would have no interest in another woman. Maybe you will always be incapable of giving that kind of love. You tell me I want too much. And maybe I do. But like you and your imagination, I cant help but be that way.

After all, Bao Bomu says, what is the past but what we choose to remember?

What is the past but what we choose to remember?

I take a few quick sips. This is really good. And I mean it. I have never tasted tea like this. It is smooth, pungent, and instantly addicting.This is from Grand Auntie, my mother explains. She told me If I buy the cheap tea, then I am saying that my whole life has not been worth something better. A few years ago she bought it for herself. One hundred dollars a pound.Youre kidding. I take another sip. It tastes even better.

A psychiatrist does not want you to wake up. He tells you to dream some more, to find the pond and pour more tears into it. And really, hes just another bird drinking from your misery.

So much of history is mystery. We dont know what is lost forever, what will surface again. All objects exist in a moment of time. And that fragment of time is preserved or lost or found in mysterious ways. Mystery is a wonderful part of life.

Our love would be solace, companionship, and the mending of wounds.

...and its ridiculous that anyone would praise a child for standing with arms spread out on a wooden cross, as if she were Jesuss dead sister wearing a checkerboard tablecloth.

Fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention.

My mother believed in Gods will for many years. It was af if she had turned on a celestial faucet and goodness kept pouring out. She said it was faith that kept all these good things coming our way, only I thought she said fate because she couldnt pronounce the th sound in fa

What happened to Violet was terrible, and I’m not saying fate happens without blame. But when fate turns out well, everyone should forget the bad road that got us here.

No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached.

He simply translated what was in LuLings heart: her better intentions, her hopes.

Its a luxury being a writer because all you ever think about is life.

...I was like a bird, my wings once carried on a wind of lies. I would beat those wings to stay aloft, and when the wind suddenly died or buffeted me around, I would keep beating those strong wings and fly in my own slice of wind

It felt like all the truth got whitewashed with fake happiness, she said, only it was not happy and it was worse than fake. It was dangerous

I am a miserable cook but an extremely talented eater.

The best life you can have as you get into old age is good food, good teeth to eat it with, and few worries when you go to bed at night.

...you have to believe in its principles. Anything is possible, as long as its for the good of the world. Make the exception. Live exceptionally. And if you cant do that, maybe we should consider whether youre right for the project. Think about it, then lets talk tomorrow.