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Quote by Amy Tan

“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.”

Quote by Amy Tan

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Amy Tan
Amy Tan

Amy Tan, born in February 19, 1952, is a renowned film writer from the United States. Her works are characterized by profound character portrayal and unique cultural background, with notable works including 'The Joy Luck Club'. more

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“I had always assumed we had an unspoken understanding about these things: that she didn't really mean I was a failure, and I really meant I would try to respect her opinions more. But listening to Auntie Lin tonight reminds me once agian: My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other's meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more. No doubt she told Auntie Lin I was going back to school to get a doctorate.”

TryingMeanSaidSchoolMotherUnderstandingOpinionDoubtHeardListeningUnderstoodNo DoubtTonightReally MeanUnspokenDoctoratesAuntieGoing Back To SchoolRespect Her
Author:Amy Tan
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“And then it occurs to me. They are frightened. In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to America. They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese, who think they are stupid when they explain things in fractured English. They see that joy and luck do not mean the same to their daughters, that to these closed American-born minds "joy luck" is not a word, it does not exist. They see daughters who will bear grandchildren born without any connecting hope passed from generation to generation.”

ThinkingMindMeanDoeAmericaJoyMotherGrowsFearBornGenerationsStupidBearsDaughterLuckIgnorantChineseFrightenedGrandchildrenConnectingImpatient
Book:The Joy Luck Club
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“How I saw in her my own true nature. What was beneath my skin. Inside my bones... Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain. This is how a daughter honors her mother. It is shou so deep it is in your bones. The pain of the flesh is nothing. The pain you must forget. Because sometimes that is the only way to remember what is in your bones. You must peel off your skin, and that of your mother, and her mother before her. Until there is nothing. No scar, no skin, no flesh.”

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Author:Amy Tan
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“For all these years I kept my mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out. And because I remained quiet for so long now my daughter does not hear me... All these years I kept my true nature hidden, running along like a small shadow so nobody could catch me. And because I moved so secretly now my daughter does not see me... We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing; unheard and not hearing, unknown by others.”

YearsLongDoeRunningDesireFallLostSeeingQuietMouthsDaughterShadowMovedHearingSelfishMy DaughterUnseenTrue NatureUnheardCatch MeSelfish Desire
Author:Amy Tan
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