It's a matter of whether you see the self as fundamentally in relationship to other selves or not - whether you see the boundary between self and the world as relatively permeable, which makes you "interdependent" (collectivist) in outlook, or relatively impermeable, which makes you "independent" (individualistic).

A white person was by definition somebody. Other people needed, across their hearts, one steel rib.

For students who are in the most creative group in America to somehow be presumed to be narrow is just completely meshugga.

When I think about why I would be a writer, why I should continue to be a writer, it seems to me one of the few things you can dowhere you're never bored.

That there should be a purpose to suffering, that a person should be chosen for it, special - these are houses of the mind, in which whole peoples have found shelter.

Chinese language tends to be quick, economical. To know what people are saying, you always need to know what the context is.

These are ideas that work for many, and that may well reflect your true understanding of life.