“I am a very bottom-up thinker. If you give me the right kind of Tinker Toys, I can imagine the building. I can sit there and see primitives and recognize their power to build structures a half mile high, if only I had just one more to make it functionally complete. I can see those kinds of things.”

“This stranger had the key
To any door he wished — with his eyes, I say What kind of majiks, of majiks?
What kind of man —
Can make me turn and see the way I really am?”

“Nothing can silence me as long as I am alive. I don’t give any kind of excuse. If I cannot come out [of China] or I cannot go in [to China] this is not going to change my belief. But when I am there, I am in this condition: I see it, I see people who need help. Then you know, I just want to offer my possibility to help them.”

“Will-power, give me back some to survive,
One more hour and I'm coming alive…
I can see the light!
And there's blue sky breaking
Through the edge of the night…
I can see the light!”

“In my case, literature is a kind of revenge. It's something that gives me what real life can't give me - all the adventures, all the suffering. All the experiences I can only live in the imagination, literature completes.”

“Can I see another's woe,
And not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another's grief,
And not seek for kind relief?”

“Some people got high rises on their backs.
I'm not broke but you can see the cracks.
You can make me perfect again.
All because of you
I am.”

“I can see the fire burning
Burning right behind your eyes
I can see the fire burning, baby
Burning right behind your eyes
You must've swallowed a candle
Or some other kind of surprise.”

“I am proud that I defy your categories. I am proud that I don't fit easily into any box. I am proud of all the things I am and all the things i can be. Question yourself every time you think you only see one thing in me.”

“employers sense in me a denial of their values… they fear me. i suspect that they can see that i am forced to function in a century which i loathe.”