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Amy Tan

Amy Tan Quotes

Film writer

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Famous Amy Tan Quotes

“I was raised the Chinese way: I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people's misery, to eat my own bitterness. And even though I taught my daughter the opposite, still she came out the same way! Maybe it is because she was born to me and she was born a girl. And I was born to my mother and I was born a girl. All of us are like stairs, one step after another, going up and down, but all going the same way.”

PeopleWayStillsMotherDesireGirlBornMy OwnStepsGenerationsTaughtDaughterOppositesMiseryRaisedChineseMy DaughterBitternessUp And DownStairs
Author:Amy Tan
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“She [my mother] said that if I listened to her, later I would know what she knew: where true words came from, always from up high, above everything else. And if I didn't listen to her, she said my ear would bend too easily to other people, all saying words that had no lasting meaning, because they came from the bottom of their hearts, where their own desires lived, a place where I could not belong.”

PeopleIfsKnowsHeartSaidMotherDesireListeningEarsBottomLastingTrue Words
Book:The Joy Luck Club
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“External success has to do with people who may see me as a model, or an example, or a representative. As much as I may dislike or want to reject that responsibility, this is something that comes with public success. It's important to give others a sense of hope that it is possible and you can come from really different places in the world and find your own place in the world that's unique for yourself.”

PeopleWorldWantGivingMayImportantDifferentResponsibilityExampleUniqueModelsRejectsDislikeRepresentativesDifferent PlacePlaces In The World
Author:Amy Tan
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“You don't care what people think. You don't see your beloved's faults, the slight stinginess, the bit of carelessness, the occasional streak of meanness. You don't mind that he is beneath you socially, educationally, financially, and morally--that's the worst, I think, deficient morals. (Saving Fish From Drowning)”

PeopleThinkingMindCareBitsMoralWorstFaultsFishesDon't CareSavingBelovedDrowningOccasionalMeannessStreaksCarelessnessStinginess
Book:Saving Fish From Drowning
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“I think Kwan intended to show me the world is not a place but the vastness of the sou. And the soul is nothing more than love, limitless, endless, all that moves us toward knowing what is true....If people we love die, then they are lost only to our ordinary senses. If we remember, we can find them anytime with our hundred secret senses.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWorldSoulShowsRememberMovingDiesLostSecretKnowingOrdinaryHundredSensesEndlessShow MeLimitlessVastness
Author:Amy Tan
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“Each person is made of five different elements, she told me. Too much fire and you had a bad temper. That was like my father, whom my mother always critized for his cigarette habit and who always shouted back that she should feel guilty that he didn't let my mother speak her mind. Too little wood and you bent too quickly to listen to other people's ideas, unable to stand on your own. This was like my Auntie An-mei. Too much water and you flowed in too many different directions. like myself.”

PeopleFeelsShouldMindLittlesPersonsMadeIdeasDifferentMotherFatherSpeakWaterFireFiveToo MuchHabitElementsWoodsGuiltyTemperCigaretteBentDifferent DirectionsBad TemperAuntie
Author:Amy Tan
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“A girl is like a young tree, she said. You must stand tall and listen to your mother standing next to you. That is the only way to grow strong and straight. But if you bend to listen to other people, you will grow crooked and weak. You will fall to the ground with the first strong wind. And then you will be like a weed, growing wild in any direction, running along the ground until someone pulls you out and throws you away.”

PeopleIfsWayFirstsSaidRunningYoungMotherFallGirlNextStrongGrowsGrowingTreeWindStandingWeakTallWeedCrookedStrong WindsJoy Luck Club
Book:The Joy Luck Club
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