I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these things do not mix?

Only two kinds of daughters, she shouted in Chinese. Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!

I have loved works of fiction precisely for their illusions, for the author's sleight-of-hand in showing me the magic, what appeared in the right hand but not in the left.

I was six when my mother taught me the art of invisible strength..."strongest wind cannot be seen."

Even if I had expected it, even if I had known what I was going to do with my life, it would have knocked the wind out of me. When something that violent hits you, you can't help but lose your balance and fall. And after you pick yourself up, you realize you can't trust anybody to save you- not your husband, not your mother, not God. So what can you do to stop yourself from tilting and falling all over again?

And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench. All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal that was now unbreakable. So I never found a way to ask her why she had hoped something so large that failure was inevitable. And even worse, I never asked her what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope?

Those who don't heed the warnings don't live to admit they were stupid not to do so.