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

We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming - well, that’s like saying you can never change your fate.

I take a few quick sips. "This is really good." And I mean it. I have never tasted tea like this. It is smooth, pungent, and instantly addicting. "This is from Grand Auntie," my mother explains. "She told me 'If I buy the cheap tea, then I am saying that my whole life has not been worth something better.' A few years ago she bought it for herself. One hundred dollars a pound." "You're kidding." I take another sip. It tastes even better.

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

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

When you lose your face..., it is like dropping your necklace down a well. The only way you can get it back is to fall in after it.

Writing what you wished was the most dangerous form of wishful thinking.