Amy Chua Quotes

Everything I do as a mother builds on a foundation of love and compassion.

Parenting cannot just be one size fits all.

The truth is I'm not good at enjoying life.

Oddly enough, I'm not a particularly judgmental person. I just don't have a lot of filtering when I'm in 'tiger mother' mode. I say what comes into my head.

I sort of feel like people are not that honest about their own parenting. Take any teenage household; tell me there is not yelling and conflict.

There's nothing better for building confidence than learning you can do something you thought you couldn't.

I see my upbringing as a great success story. By disciplining me, my parents inculcated self-discipline. And by restricting my choices as a child, they gave me so many choices in my life as an adult. Because of what they did then, I get to do the work I love now.

All decent parents want to do what's best for their children. The Chinese just have a totally different idea of how to do that.

The Chinese model calls for giving your kids very little choice - and I've come to see that you can go too far with that. On the other hand, I also believe that Western parents sometimes give their young kids too much choice.

Kids raised to be pampered and spoiled don't really end up being good leaders. Leaders need to be independent minded and confident.

The Romans thought of themselves as the chosen people, yet they built the greatest army on Earth by recruiting warriors from any background.

I'm suggesting that, ironically, the secret to becoming a world 'hyperpower' is tolerance. If you look at history, you see great powers being very tolerant in their rise to global dominance.

Real self-esteem has to be earned. I also believe in virtuous circles, like, nothing is fun until you are good at it. It is great if you can instill in children the ability to not give up, to have a work ethic.

You can't invent Google, Facebook or the iPod unless you've mastered the basics, are willing to put in long hours and can pick yourself up from the floor when life knocks you down the first 10 times.

There are all kinds of psychological disorders in the West that don't exist in Asia.

When I'm not the Tiger Mom, I'm a professor at Yale Law School, and if one thing is clear to me from years of teaching, it's that there are many ways to produce fabulous kids. I have amazing students; some of them have strict parents, others have lenient parents, and many come from family situations that defy easy description.

My goal as a parent is to prepare you for the future, not to make you like me.

Don't assume your child is weak. If you, the parent, assume that they can't take anymore, what kind of signal are you sending them?