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.

Amy Tan

Categorized in : Kids Mother Eight

I am like a falling star who has finally found her place next to another in a lovely constellation, where we will sparkle in the heavens forever.

stars love fall

Clichés are static, the emotion behind them long spent. If you are tempted to use them, here is a saying of my mother’s: Fang pi bu-cho, cho pi bu-fang. Basically that translates to: "Loud farts don’t stink, and the really smelly ones don’t make a sound." In other words: When you’re full of beans, you just blow a lot of hot air. If you want to have a real impact, be deadly but silent. Oh, also recognize the difference between a bad cliché and a good quotation. My mother’s saying is a good quotation. You should use it often.

real mother blow

It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is... by Amy Tan

It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life.

luxury writing thinking

My mother had a very difficult childhood, having seen her own mother kill herself. So she didnt always know how to be the nurturing mother that we all expect we should have.

childhood should-have mother

Chance is the first step you take, luck is what comes afterward. by Amy Tan

Chance is the first step you take, luck is what comes afterward.

luck steps firsts

That is the nature of endings, it seems. They never end. When all the missing pieces of your life are found, put together with glue of memory and reason, there are more pieces to be found.

missing together memories

Secrets are kept from children, a lid on top of the soup kettle, so they do not boil over with too much truth.

soup secret children

Writing what you wished was the most dangerous form of wishful th... by Amy Tan

Writing what you wished was the most dangerous form of wishful thinking.

form writing thinking

I have a writer's memory, which makes everything worse than maybe... by Amy Tan

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

memories

That was how dishonesty and betrayal started, not in big lies but... by Amy Tan

That was how dishonesty and betrayal started, not in big lies but in small secrets.

betrayal secret lying

I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these things do not mix?

chinese character children

Only two kinds of daughters, she shouted in Chinese. Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!

chinese daughter two

When you lose your face..., it is like dropping your necklace down a well. The only way you can get it back is to fall in after it.

necklaces way fall

I was raised the Chinese way: I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people's misery, to eat my own bitterness. And even though I taught my daughter the opposite, still she came out the same way! Maybe it is because she was born to me and she was born a girl. And I was born to my mother and I was born a girl. All of us are like stairs, one step after another, going up and down, but all going the same way.

daughter girl mother

Words are more ardent if a man must struggle to find them. by Amy Tan

Words are more ardent if a man must struggle to find them.

ardent struggle men

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.

mental-illness use depression

What is a secret wish?" "It is what you want but cannot ask. by Amy Tan

What is a secret wish?" "It is what you want but cannot ask.

secret wish want

Memory feeds imagination. by Amy Tan

Memory feeds imagination.

imagination memories

But I will win and give her my spirit, because this is the way a mother loves her daughter. -Ying Ying

daughter mother winning

If I now recognize evil in other people, is it not because I have... by Amy Tan

If I now recognize evil in other people, is it not because I have become evil too?

ifs evil people