Lisa See citations

“In our country we call this type of mother love teng ai. My son has told me that in men's writing it is composed of two characters. The first means pain; the second means love. That is a mother's love.”

“The classics tell us that, in relationships, the one between teacher and student comes second only to the one between parent and child.”

“I am old enough to know only too well my good and bad qualities, which were often one in the same.”

“For my entire life I longed for love. I knew it was not right for me — as a girl and later as a woman — to want or expect it, but I did, and this unjustified desire has been at the root of every problem I have experienced in my life.”

“He was in my hair, my eyes, my fingers, my heart. I day-dreamed about what he was doing, thinking, seeing, smelling, feeling. I could not eat for thoughts of him.”

“In that moment I understood that the cruelest words in the universe are if only.”

“Anyone who says that women do not have influence in men's decisions makes a vast and stupid mistake.”

“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.”

“We're told that men are strong & brave, but I think women know how to endure, accept defeat & bear physical & mental agony much better than men.”

“You may be desperate, but never let anyone see you as anything less than a cultivated woman.”

“When people are alive they love, when they die, they keep loving. If love ends when person dies, that is not real love”

“How can we not create a fantasy in our minds when the reality is so hard?”

“Dreaming, dreaming, dreaming -- weren't our dreams what gave us strength, hope, and desire?”

“Having a baby is painful in order to show how serious a thing life is.”

“My heart is empty & my life has no value anymore. Each moment a thousand tears.”

“Seeing something once is better than hearing about it a hundred times. Doing something once is better than seeing it a hundred times.”

“There is no life without death. That is the true meaning of yin and yang”

“In every message she spoke of birds, of flight, of the world away. Even back then, she flew against what was presented to her. I wanted to cling to her wings and soar, no matter how intimidated I was.”

“Perhaps he was afraid as I was that we'd be caught. Or perhaps he was breathing me in just as I was letting him come into my lungs, my eyes, my heart.”

“all girls have dreams, even if our destinies are set.”