How can we not create a fantasy in our minds when the reality is so hard? Lisa See More Quotes by Lisa See More Quotes From Lisa See It's funny how in that moment I see things clearly. Am I beaten down? Yes. Have I allowed myself to become a victim? Somewhat. Am I afraid? Always. Does some part of me still long to fly away from this place? Absolutely. But I can't leave. Sam and I have built a life for Joy. It isn't perfect, but it's a life. My family's happiness means more to me that starting over again. Page 210 Lisa See starting-over long mean My love for him had never gone away but only changed, growing deeper like wine fermenting or pickles curing. It bore into me with the pervasiveness of water working its way to the center of a mountain. Lisa See gone-away wine water All these types of love come out of duty, respect, and gratitude. Most of them, as the women in my county know, are sources of sadness, rupture, and brutality. Lisa See gratitude sadness brutality She loves you. She's just forgotten how to show it. Lisa See shows forgotten love-you Parents die, daughters grow up and marry out, but sisters are for life. Lisa See growing-up daughter parent I’ve never thought much about whether I was happy or if I had fun as a child. I was a so-so girl who lived with a so-so family in a so-so village. I didn’t know that there might be another way to live, and I didn’t worry about it either. Lisa See girl fun children Poetry is on earth to make you serene, not corrupt your mind, thoughts,or emotions Lisa See emotion earth mind What stays with me most is a general sense of loss, unease, and longing for the past that cannot be relieved. Lisa See longing loss past Perhaps he was afraid as I was that we'd be caught. Or perhaps he was breathing me in just as I was letting him come into my lungs, my eyes, my heart. Lisa See breathing eye heart I didn't know you would be here last night, but you were. We can't fight fate. Instead, we must accept that fate has given us a special opportunity. Lisa See fate fighting opportunity Nu shu means women's writing. And it was a secret writing system that was invented by women, used by women and kept a secret by women in one very remote county in China for a thousand years. It's the only language that was invented and used by women to have been found anywhere in the world. Lisa See women language writing world Opera tells stories through the pure emotion of music. An exhibition has to tell a story purely visually. I've tried to incorporate both of those things - pure emotion and being more visual - into my writing. Lisa See story music emotion writing I write what I'm interested in. Lisa See i-write interested write But, you know, I just did a big trip in the spring to Vietnam and Cambodia and Thailand, and that's when I bought a Kindle. I have like 15 books on this one little gizmo. But when I came home, the first night I picked up the book that was on my nightstand and I went right back to that. Lisa See you home night book A book is one kind of an art form and a film is a different art form. I think as a writer you just have to say, well the book is one thing, and the film is a completely different one. Lisa See think you book art Some of what I am doing when I am researching is looking for things people in my family have done and finding out what those things mean, why they did those things and seeing how I fit into them. Lisa See i-am looking family people One of the things that's pretty unique about nu shu, when you look especially at these old letters and stories that have been saved, is that there are certain lines that are very standard that are used again and again. It's almost like a formula in a sense, so that these certain lines come up again and again. Lisa See things look you unique
