Quote

I thought this man had long ago drained everything from my heart. But now something strong and bitter flowed and made me feel another emptiness in a place I didn't know was there. I cursed this man aloud so he could hear. You had dog eyes. You jumped and followed whoever called you. Now you chase your own tail.

Amy Tan

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Amy Tan
Age: 72
Born: 1952
Born: February 19
Essayist
Film Writer
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
Oakland
California
Amy Ruth Tan
Long
Didn
Bitter
Jumped
Something
Place
Dog
Tail
Men
Thought
Hear
Cursed
Everything
Called
Chase
Feel
Eyes
Tails
Feels
Eye
Followed
Flowed
Heart
Strong
Emptiness
Drained
Made
Another
Whoever
Aloud

More quotes by Amy Tan

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I think we often write because we feel a loneliness, and people read for the same reason, and then they come away feeling a little less lonely.
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What is a secret wish? It is what you want but cannot ask.
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But I don't have anything left inside of me to figure out where I fit in or what I want. If I want anything, it's to know what's possible to want.
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If she doesn't speak, she is making a choice. If she doesn't try, she can lose her chance forever. -An-mei
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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.
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When you already believe something, how can you suddenly stop? When you are a loyal friend, how can you no longer be one?
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Memory feeds imagination.
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Shanghainese people are good negotiators, they're very persistent, and you grow up in an atmosphere like that - very competitive. That becomes part of your personality, Shanghai personality becomes part of yours.
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In [writing] fiction, every sentence is its own reward.
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On the third day after someone dies, the soul comes back to settle scores. In my mother's case, this would be the first day of the lunar new year. And because it is the new year, all debts must be paid, or disaster and misfortune will follow.
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I let one thing result from another. Of course, all of it could have been just loosely connected coincidences. And whether that's true or not, I know the intention was there. Becasue when I want something to happen-or not happen- I begin to look at all events and all things as relevant, an opportunity to take or avoid.
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My sister Kwan believes she has yin eyes. She sees those who have died and now dwell in the world of Yin, ghosts who leave the mists just to visit her kitchen on Balboa Street in San Francisco.
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Sometimes you change to survive, and some things you don't give up, or you're too prideful, and then you think well, what's pride? Is it a good thing? Maybe it's a bad thing. That's what I look at in my life. It's always a question in my life I look at, and I never find the answer, because if I did, probably I wouldn't have books to write.
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Writing what you wished was the most dangerous form of wishful thinking.
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I think books were my salvation, they saved me from being miserable.
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Ying-ying, you have tiger eyes. They gather fire in the day. At night they shine golden.
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A mother is always the beggining. She is how things begin.
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Then she told me why a tiger is gold and black. It has two ways. The gold side leaps with its fierce heart. The black side stands still with cunning, hiding its gold between the trees, seeing and not being seen, waiting patiently for things to come. I did not learn to use my black side until after the bad man left me.
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Whenever I'm with my mother, I feel as though I have to spend the whole time avoiding land mines.
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For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could only be me.
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