Every place is a good place, only time goes wrong.

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

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

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

There are people who are willing to work within the system, and people who don't want to work with the system at all.

Overall there may be less censorship in America than in China, but censorship and self-censorship are not only from political pressure, but also pressures from other places in a society.

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.