The greatest calling of all is to have a literary life.

a laotong relationship is made by choice...when we first looked in each other's eyes in the palanquin I felt something special pass between us--like a spark to start a fire or a seed to grow rice. But a single spark is not enough to warm a room nor is a single seed enough to grow a fruitful crop. Deep love--true-heart love--must grow.

People say you need to be strong, smart, and lucky to survive hard times, war, a natural disaster, or physical torture. But I say emotional abuse—anxiety, fear, guilt, and degradation—is far worse and much harder to survive.

You make choices that are good and sound, but the gods have other plans for you.

Obey, obey, obey, then do what you want.

Maybe we're all like that with our mothers. They seem ordinary until one day they're extraordinary.

I think sometimes as an adult, you take people for what they do, and what they are now, instead of the whole picture of their lives.