Amy Tan Quotes & Sayings (Page 3)

“People talk about this 'bucket list': 'I need to go to this country, I need to skydive.' Whereas I need to think as much as I can, to feel as much as I can, to be conscious and observe and understand me and the people around me as much as I can.”

“My mother said I was a clingy kid until I was about four. I also remember that from the age of eight she and I fought almost every day.”

“I think I've always been somebody, since the deaths of my father and brother, who was afraid to hope. So, I was more prepared for failure and for rejection than for success.”

“I would never require anyone to read any book. That seems antithetical to why we read - which is to choose a book for our personal reasons. I always shudder when I'm told my books are on required reading lists.”

“You can get sucked into the idea that, 'Gosh, this is impressive. Maybe I should do this. It will look good.' Or 'I'll write like this because it will impress that critic.'”

“You write a book and you hope somebody will go out and pay $24.95 for what you've just said. I think books were my salvation. Books saved me from being miserable.”

“When I go back and read my journals or fiction, I am always surprised. I may not remember having those thoughts, but they still exist and I know they are mine, and it's all part of making sense of who I am.”

“I learned to forgive myself, and that enabled me to forgive my mother as a person.”

“I have a writer's memory which makes everything worse than maybe it actually was.”

“I used to think that my mother got into arguments with people because they didn't understand her English, because she was Chinese.”