Amy Tan Quotes

I was punched breathless by the strongest emotions I have ever felt and they are now stored in my intuition as a writer.

I am like a falling star who has finally found her place next to another in a lovely constellation, where we will sparkle in the heavens forever.

It's both rebellion and conformity that attack you with success.

There's no hope. There's no reason to keep trying. Because you must. This is not hope. Not reason. This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do.

You can have pride in what you do each day, but not arrogance in what you were born with.

I thought I was clever enough to write as well as these people and I didn't realize that there is something called originality and your own voice.

Ying-ying, you have tiger eyes. They gather fire in the day. At night they shine golden.

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

Words are more ardent if a man must struggle to find them.

You see what power is holding someone else's fear in your hand and showing it to them.

It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life.

If you are greedy, what is inside you is what makes you always hungry.

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.

Hardships can harden even the best person.

Over time, passion wanes, differences don't.

That was how dishonesty and betrayal started, not in big lies but in small secrets.

You should think about your character. Know where you are changing, how you will be changed, what cannot be changed back again.

I read a book a day when I was a kid. My family was not literary; we did not have any books in the house.

Only two kinds of daughters, she shouted in Chinese. Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!

We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming - well, that’s like saying you can never change your fate.

With each passing day, I didn't lose hope. I fought to have more.

I think we often write because we feel a loneliness, and people read for the same reason, and then they come away feeling a little less lonely.

I hid my deepest feelings so well I forgot where I placed them.

Libraries are the pride of the city.

I began to look at all events and all things as relevant, an opportunity to take or avoid.

Chance is the first step you take, luck is what comes afterward.

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

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

Writing is an extreme privilege but it's also a gift. It's a gift to yourself and it's a gift of giving a story to someone.

The life we receive is not always what we choose.

Hope is the adrenalin of the soul.

If you can't change your fate, change your attitude.