“In this cosy, noisy, gregarious world of the “all-chinese” sickbed, so different from the stark, sterile solitude of the American hospital room, her life had assumed the astounding quality of a continuous farewell party.”

They will remain strangers despite sitting face-to-face

You may be right in believing that if you study hard, one day you might become fluent in English.

Transcend your abuse and transform it into a source of courage, creativity and compassion.

Friendship develops even if a thousand miles apart. But should yuan fen be absent between two individuals

I am a child of destiny who will unite East and West and change the world.

Don’t trust anyone. Be a cold fish. I hurt no one. And no one can hurt me.

I’m afraid the chances of your getting a dowry are slim.

You’ll always be expected to know Chinese, and if you don’t, I’m afraid they will not respect you as much.

But you will still look Chinese, and when people meet you, they’ll see a Chinese girl no matter how well you speak English.

To my surprise I found her cheerful and free of pain, perhaps because of the small doses of morphine she was being given.

You must rely on yourself. No matter what else people may steal from you, they will never be able to take away your knowledge.

She was surrounded by neighbours and friends who congregated at her bedside day and night.

People with yuan fen are destined to like one another

Suen Le! (it means, “Let it be.

Revenge is not worthy of you. If you concentrate on revenge, you will keep those wounds fresh that would otherwise have healed.

The future belongs to you. Should anyone insult you, tell yourself this:

But where each flows on unmingling, both are fruitless and in vain.

Seated one day at the organ

One does not miss heaven by a hair, but by constant effort to avoid and escape God.

There is no such cozy combination as man and wife.

The noblest of the elements is water.

When I teach the formal curriculum, I have the chance to think about it ahead of time. I can rehearse it. I can illustrate it with self-deprecating humor and humble-sounding personal disclosure. I can try to make it comes out just right.

When an ecstatic is asked the question, What is it that love dares the self to do? she will answer: Love dares the self to leave itself behind, to enter into poverty.

It’s all about confidence-boosting and putting on armor.