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

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.

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

I am fascinated by language in daily life: the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.

I won't be what I'm not. -Jing-mei

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

That is the way it is with a wound. The wound begins to close in on itself, to protect what is hurting so much. And once it is closed, you no longer see what is underneath, what started the pain.