Amy Tan: Trending quotes (page 2)

“We all had our miseries. But to despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable.
-Suyuan”

“That is the way it is with a wound. The wound begins to close in on itself, to protect what is hurting so much. And once it is closed, you no longer see what is underneath, what started the pain.”

“I did not lose myself all at once. I rubbed out my face over the years washing away my pain, the same way carvings on stone are worn down by water.”

“Because sometimes that is the only way to remember what is in your bones. You must peel off your skin, and that of your mother, and her mother. Until there is nothing. No scar, no skin, no flesh.
-An-mei”

“From what I have observed, when the anesthesia of love wears off, there is always the pain of consequences. You don't have to be stupid to marry the wrong man.”

“And I think now that fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention. But somehow, when you lose something you love, faith takes over.
-Rose”

“You remember only what you want to remember. You know only what your heart allows you to know.”

“But she never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better.
-Jing-mei”

“I love and am loved, fully and freely, nothing expected, more than enough received.”

“How can you blame a person for his fears and weaknesses unless you have felt the same and done differently?”

“You must think for yourself, what you must do. If someone tells you, then you are not trying.
-An-mei”

“I won't be what I'm not.
-Jing-mei”

“Your life is what you see in front of you.
-An-mei”

“too much happiness always overflowed into tears of sorrow.”

“For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could only be me.”

“Words to me were magic. You could say a word and it could conjure up all kinds of images or feelings or a chilly sensation or whatever. It was amazing to me that words had this power.”

“Fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention.”

“Why do you think you are missing something you never had?”

“If she doesn't speak, she is making a choice. If she doesn't try, she can lose her chance forever.
-An-mei”