Quote

I wanted to write stories for myself. At first it was purely an aesthetic thing about craft. I just wanted to become good at the art of something. And writing was very private.

Amy Tan

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Amy Tan
Age: 72
Born: 1952
Born: February 19
Essayist
Film Writer
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
Oakland
California
Amy Ruth Tan
First
Crafts
Writing
Private
Thing
Write
Something
Art
Good
Stories
Become
Purely
Wanted
Craft
Firsts
Aesthetic

More quotes by Amy Tan

Image
I began to look at all events and all things as relevant, an opportunity to take or avoid.
Amy Tan
Image
That was how dishonesty and betrayal started, not in big lies but in small secrets.
Amy Tan
Image
Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain.
Amy Tan
Image
My favorite anything is always relative to the context of present time, place and mood. When I finish a book and want to immediately find another by the same author and no other, that author is elevated to my favorite.
Amy Tan
Image
You should think about your character. Know where you are changing, how you will be changed, what cannot be changed back again.
Amy Tan
Image
how can the world in all its chaos come up with so many coincidences, so many similarities and exact opposites?
Amy Tan
Image
Your only shame is to have shame.
Amy Tan
Image
Ying-ying, you have tiger eyes. They gather fire in the day. At night they shine golden.
Amy Tan
Image
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. Until there is nothing. No scar, no skin, no flesh. -An-mei
Amy Tan
Image
Don't think too much. That makes you believe you have more choices than you do. Then you mind becomes confused.
Amy Tan
Image
I did not lose myself all at once. I rubbed out my face over the years washing away my pain, the same way carvings on stone are worn down by water.
Amy Tan
Image
Fate changes when you change your clothes.
Amy Tan
Image
I won't be what I'm not. -Jing-mei
Amy Tan
Image
I was intelligent enough to make up my own mind. I not only had freedom of choice, I had freedom of expression.
Amy Tan
Image
I thought I was clever enough to write as well as these people and I didn't realize that there is something called originality and your own voice.
Amy Tan
Image
I started a second novel seven times and I had to throw them away.
Amy Tan
Image
Among writers, if you don't have a therapist, it's like saying you don't keep a journal or use the thesaurus. It's a natural accompaniment.
Amy Tan
Image
Wise guy, he not go against wind. In Chinese we say, Come from South, blow with wind -- poom! -- North will follow. Strongest wind cannot be seen.
Amy Tan
Image
I AM A PERSON WHO THINKS ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE SPIRIT WHEN I WRITE. I THINK ABOUT WHAT CAN'T BE KNOWN AND ONLY IMAGINED. I OFTEN SENSE A SPIRIT OR FORCE OR MEANING BEYOND MYSELF. I LEAVE IT OPEN AS TO WHAT THE SPIRIT IS, BUT I CONTINUE TO MAKE GUESSES.
Amy Tan
Image
There are a lot of people who think that's what's needed to be successful is always being right, always being careful, always picking the right path.
Amy Tan