Chance is the first step you take, luck is what comes afterward.

My mother imparted her daily truths so she could help my older brothers and me rise above our circumstances. We lived in San Francisco's Chinatown. Like most of the other Chinese children who played in the back alleys of restaurants and curio shops, I didn't think we were poor. My bowl was always full, three five-course meals every day, beginning with a soup full of mysterious things I didn't want to know the names of.

When you already believe something, how can you suddenly stop? When you are a loyal friend, how can you no longer be one?

Seeing her this last time, I threw myself on her body. And she opened her eyes slowly. I was not scared. I knew she could see me and what she had finally done. So i shut her eyes with my fingers and told her with my heart: I cah see the truth, too. I am strong, too.

People there only dream that it is China, because if you are Chinese you can never let go of China in your mind.

I hated the tests the raised hopes and failed expectations.

It was a distorted form of inverse logic: If hopes never come true, then hope for what you don't want.