But loneliness is as delusive a belief in the pertinence of the world as is love: in choosing to feel lonely, as in choosing to love, one carves a space next to oneself to be filled by others - a friend, a lover, a toy poodle, a violinist on the radio.

I would never describe a cloud as 'fluffy'—in Chinese or in English.

To write about a struggle amidst the struggling: one must hope that the muddling will end someday.

Horrible that you could write in a language so well, but have nothing meaningful to say.

I always tell my students to go back after a hundred pages and rewrite from the beginning. It's really harder if you've already finished four hundred pages and realize the first hundred aren't working.

In film, you have to present everything on the screen so it's the opposite of what I usually do with storytelling. It forced me to think about how people walk, where they sit at that moment. With Princess of Nebraska, it was just fun to watch because the movie was so far from the story. It was very much a different story.

There is a certain amount of politeness here in America, which is probably more than just politeness.