Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Maxine Hong Kingston

Quote by Maxine Hong Kingston

“Be careful what you say. It comes true. It comes true. I had to leave home in order to see the world logically, logic the new way of seeing. I learned to think that mysteries are for explanation. I enjoy the simplicity. Concrete pours out of my mouth to cover the forests with freeways and sidewalks. Give me plastics, periodical tables, t.v. dinners with vegetables no more complex than peas mixed with diced carrots. Shine floodlights into dark corners: no ghosts.”

Quote by Maxine Hong Kingston

Book:The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
Create image

Work

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts

This memoir delves into the complex identity of the author, a Chinese-American woman, as she navigates her cultural heritage and personal experiences. The narrative intertwines her own girlhood memories with traditional Chinese stories and legends, creating a rich tapestry of personal and cultural history. more

Author

Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston

Maxine Hong Kingston is an influential American author known for her pioneering work in the genre of creative non-fiction. Born on October 27, 1940, she has made significant contributions to American literature with her distinctive narrative style and exploration of cultural identity. Her most notable works include 'The Woman Warrior' and 'China Men', which have been pivotal in shaping the narrative of Asian American identity. more

You May Also Like

“L’avevo fatto davvero, ero partita, e stavo finalmente assaporando il primo morso di quell’American Dream che avevo tanto sognato. E mentre dalla finestra della mia stanza al nono piano guardavo il mio primo tramonto californiano sciogliersi sullo skyline di Downtown, per la prima volta ho creduto davvero che tutto fosse possibile.”

American DreamViaggioViaggiare
Book:La felicità è una scelta: Un viaggio per trovare il coraggio di ascoltare la propria voce
Create image

“We [Americans] are accustomed to think of ourselves as an emancipated people; we say that we are democratic, liberty-loving, free of prejudices and hatred. This is the melting-pot, the seat of a great human experiment. Beautiful words, full of noble, idealistic sentiment. Actually we are a vulgar, pushing mob whose passions are easily mobilized by demagogues, newspaper men, religious quacks, agitators and such like. To call this a society of free peoples is blasphemous. What have we to offer the world beside the superabundant loot which we recklessly plunder from the earth under the maniacal delusion that this insane activity represents progress and enlightenment? The land of opportunity has become the land of senseless sweat and struggle. The goal of all our striving has long been forgotten. We no longer wish to succor the oppressed and homeless; there is no room in this great, empty land for those who, like our forefathers before us, now seek a place of refuge. Millions of men and women are, or were until very recently, on relief, condemned like guinea pigs to a life of forced idleness. The world meanwhile looks to us with a desperation such as it has never known before. Where is the democratic spirit? Where are the leaders?”

DemocracyGreedAmerican DreamAmerican Culture
Book:The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
Create image

“I know that this process of ‘me changing my life’ doesn’t just end once I set fire to this list of things I hate about myself. Tonight isn’t as much of a new beginning as it is a violent end and I know the real work hasn’t even started yet.”

LoveLifeArtSoulInspirationTimeUniverseHopeWishStarsPrayerHealingDestinyGrowing UpLearningFateGrowingFriendsSelf LoveLoversDepressionAnxietyOceanBeachGirlsComing Of AgePraySelf AcceptanceTeensTeenagersSelf ReflectionSoul MatesConstellationsBorn ReadyJennifer ElisabethCape CodRed ThreadRed Thread Of DestinyRed Thread Of Fate
Author:Jennifer Elisabeth
Create image

“In one of my early works I once wrote, "America is a great country, built by great people". And it took me some time to look through the fallacy of this statement. I could still justify it by saying, it depends on the context - which would be technically true. But my dignity, my conscience, my morality - everything that is civilized in me, has been eating me alive for some time now over this one statement. Because if we throw away all technicality and look from a simple, everyday human perspective - nothing about the the birth of America is great - America is a terrorist nation, built by terrorists who invaded other people's land, stripped them of their homes, and built a spin-off of the ruthless British empire over their blood and bones. You think America's homeless problem is something new! It's not - America has been making people homeless ever since the pilgrims set foot in Plymouth Rock. The pilgrims were not pioneers, they were terrorists.”

SlaveryAmerican DreamColonialismAmerican HistoryImperialismWhite SupremacyAmerican CultureColonizationNative AmericansColonial History
Book:Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth
Create image

“Assim vamos remando, barcos a navegar contra a correnteza, incessantemente levados de volta ao passado”

American DreamGatsby
Book:The Great Gatsby: The classic American novel about love lost and the impossible dream, now in an expanded, deluxe Edition with illustrations & selected contemporary critical responses
Create image

“When blue-collar, white workers in middle America look at Donald Trump in his fill-fitting suit and baseball cap, with a physical image that is perhaps more like their own, they see a possibility that they could be him. Aside from his skin colour, Barack Obama, with his lean physique, good looks and charisma, hanging out with rock stars and movie stars, his life and what he stands for seems at a far remove. Except the reality is that he was raised without his father, cared for by his grandparents and moved around a lot as a child, meaning he has potentially much more in common with the Appalachian voters than Donald Trump. He lived and achieved the American Dream in arguably a more fundamental way than Trump did.”

TrumpAmerican DreamObamaPopulismSocial Mobility
Book:In America: Tales from Trump Country
Create image

“I don’t really identify with America. I don’t really feel like an American or part of the American experience, and I don’t really feel like a member of the human race, to tell you the truth. I know I am, but I really don’t. All the definitions are there, but I don’t really feel a part of it. I think I have found a detached point of view, an ideal emotional detachment from the American experience and culture…”

AmericaAmerican DreamAlienationAmerican CultureEmotional Detachment
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“Only 15-20% of Rossmoor houses are “originals”—structures unchanged from their construction in the 1950s. The land is what’s valuable. People knock down the gingerbread cottages to build Mediterranean villas with no yards between them. I don’t want our family’s house to suffer that transformation.”

CaliforniaAmerican DreamSuburbsRossmoor
Book:Making Peace With Paradise: an autobiography of a California girl
Create image