If I look upon my whole life, I cannot think of another time when I felt more comfortable: when I had no worries, fears, or desires, when my life seemed as soft and lovely as lying inside a cocoon of rose silk.

I was punched breathless by the strongest emotions I have ever felt and they are now stored in my intuition as a writer.

Language is the tool of my trade -and I use them all - all the Englishes I grew up with

For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could only be me.

Clichés are static, the emotion behind them long spent. If you are tempted to use them, here is a saying of my mother’s: Fang pi bu-cho, cho pi bu-fang. Basically that translates to: "Loud farts don’t stink, and the really smelly ones don’t make a sound." In other words: When you’re full of beans, you just blow a lot of hot air. If you want to have a real impact, be deadly but silent. Oh, also recognize the difference between a bad cliché and a good quotation. My mother’s saying is a good quotation. You should use it often.

Chaos is the penance for leisure.

I felt foolish and tired, as if I had been running to escape someone chasing me, only to look behind to discover there was no one there.