I think we often write because we feel a loneliness, and people read for the same reason, and then they come away feeling a little less lonely.

Don't think too much. That makes you believe you have more choices than you do. Then you mind becomes confused.

And below the heimongmong, all along the ground, were weeds already spilling out over the edges, running wild in every direction.

I didn't fear failure. I expected failure.

If you are greedy, what is inside you is what makes you always hungry.

But I don't have anything left inside of me to figure out where I fit in or what I want. If I want anything, it's to know what's possible to want.

I had always assumed we had an unspoken understanding about these things: that she didn't really mean I was a failure, and I really meant I would try to respect her opinions more. But listening to Auntie Lin tonight reminds me once agian: My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other's meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more. No doubt she told Auntie Lin I was going back to school to get a doctorate.