“In the same way, the people whom I most abhor, I abhor them for elements that I abhor in myself.” Quote by Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“I came to realize this weird projection: you are much more passionate about hating something outside of you when you know that something is also in you.” KnowsHateRealizingPassionateProjection Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“In a way, this kind of insight or recognition often permeates the way I think of character, how I plot action, and the way in which I use imagery, seeing binaries as false.” ThinkingWayKindCharacterUseActionSeeingInsightRecognitionPlotImagery Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“I'm in my 60s, and a cancer scare just makes you more aware of mortality.” CancerMortalityScare Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“[Cancer] didn't make me more intense about not working more and just having fun more. It didn't do that either.” FunCancerIntenseHaving FunJust Have Fun Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“The one difference I have noted is that it's made me more tender to my students and to young people particularly. It's made me mellower. I began to have a different perspective, because I may not be around much longer to be hassled by life's pressures.” PeopleMayMadeDifferentYoungDifferencesStudentsPerspectivePressureDifferent PerspectiveI May Not Be Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“I look at my young students, and I no longer have the sense that, oh, I'm the authority and they have to meet a certain standard. It's like, oh, look at these young ones. They've got such a hard road in front of them. I don't envy them having life ahead of them.” LooksHardYoungCertainFrontsStudentsAuthorityStandardsEnvyYoung OnesYoung Students Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“I feel compassionate, because I know [students] all have to go down this road of suffering and it's going to be tough.” KnowsFeelsSufferingStudentsToughCompassionate Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“No matter how sheltered [my students] are, no matter how their parents try to do right by them, every single one of them, you know, every single one of us, that's what we all face. And so it's made me - that's the one change I've marked in myself - it's made me change in the way I relate to my students. I've become a different teacher in that way.” KnowsWayTryingMadeDifferentMatterFacesParentTeacherStudentsRelate Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“In publishing books and winning awards, it's like you've enjoyed this meal, you know, two months ago. How long can you be nourished by thinking about it? You've already ingested it, and you've excreted it, and that was two months ago. You had this fabulous meal. It's not going to keep you satiated today. You have to go out and get your next meal. For me, that's writing. I have to go out and hunt my next meal.” ThinkingKnowsWritingLongTwoBookTodayNextWinningLike YouMonthsEnjoyedMealsAwardsPublishingFabulousHuntsTwo MonthsPublishing BooksWinning Awards Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“Saul Bellow has that character in Henderson the Rain King say: "I want, I want, I want!"9 I remember reading this passage years ago and thinking, yes, that's the human.” ThinkingWantYearsHumansCharacterRememberReadingKingsRainYears AgoPassages Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim