Quote

We are the kind of people who obsess over one word... but we have only one shot to get it right in concert. It was hard the first time I practiced with them. I was so nervous that my vocal chords were paralyzed for about a half-hour.

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
Kind
Hour
Concert
Time
Word
Chords
People
Hours
Vocal
Half
Concerts
Firsts
Obsession
First
Shot
Obsess
Right
Nervous
Paralyzed
Hard
Shots
Practiced

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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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I had on a beautiful red dress, but what I saw was even more valuable. I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind. -Lindo
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There's no hope. There's no reason to keep trying. Because you must. This is not hope. Not reason. This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do.
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In [writing] fiction, every sentence is its own reward.
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I hated the tests the raised hopes and failed expectations.
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I loved fairy tales when I was a kid. Grimm. The grimmer the better. I loved gruesome gothic tales and, in that respect, I liked Bible stories, because to me they were very gothic.
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We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others.
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How do I create something out of nothing? And how do I create my own life? I think it is by questioning, and saying to myself that there are no absolute truths.
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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.
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For woman is yin, the darkness within, where untempered passions lie. And man is yang, bright truth lighting our minds.
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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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If I look upon my whole life, I cannot think of another time when I felt more comfortable: when I had no worries, fears, or desires, when my life seemed as soft and lovely as lying inside a cocoon of rose silk.
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I can never remember things I didn't understand in the first place.
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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.
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Over time, passion wanes, differences don't.
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Secrets are kept from children, a lid on top of the soup kettle, so they do not boil over with too much truth.
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You can have pride in what you do each day, but not arrogance in what you were born with.
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Your only shame is to have shame.
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I think books were my salvation, they saved me from being miserable.
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