Quotes from Lisa See

I am an eighth Chinese, and I come from a large Chinese-American family in Los Angeles.

Maybe we're all like that with our mothers. They seem ordinary until one day they're extraordinary.

Poetry is on earth to make you serene, not corrupt your mind, thoughts,or emotions

I wonder if there was anything I would have done differently. I hope I would have done everything differently, except I know everything would have turned out the same. That's the meaning of fate.

Gone were my girlish ideas about romantic love and my later ideas about sexual love. From Yi, I learned to appreciate deep-heart love. Peony in Love

Having a baby is painful in order to show how serious a thing life is.

Having a baby is painful in order to show how serious a thing life is.

Dreaming, dreaming, dreaming -- weren't our dreams what gave us strength, hope, and desire?

a laotong relationship is made by choice...when we first looked in each other's eyes in the palanquin I felt something special pass between us--like a spark to start a fire or a seed to grow rice. But a single spark is not enough to warm a room nor is a single seed enough to grow a fruitful crop. Deep love--true-heart love--must grow.

Fall down eight times, stand up nine. For me, this saying is less about the dead paving the way for future generations than it is for the women of Jeju. We suffer and suffer and suffer, but we also keep getting up. We keep living. You would not be here if you weren't brave. Now you need to be braver still.

I am old enough to know only too well my good and bad qualities, which were often one and the same. For my entire life I longed for love. I knew it was not right for me - as a girl and later as a woman - to want or expect it, but I did, and this unjustified desire has been at the root of every problem I have experienced in my life.

No coincidence, no story.

The sea is better than a mother. You can love your mother, and she still might leave you. You can love or hate the sea, but it will always be there. Forever. The sea has been the center of her life. It has nurtured her and stolen from her, but it has never left.

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.

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.

Tea reminds us to slow down and escape the pressures of modern life," he says

When you don't have much, having less isn't so bad.

I know a lot about women and their suffering, but I still know almost nothing about men.

Her house is the nest where she hides the joy, laughter, sorrows, and regrets of her life.

The greatest calling of all is to have a literary life.

i would rather be married to broken jade than flawless clay

I've had to think about the dark shadow side of friendship. This is the person who knows and loves you best, which means she knows all the ways to hurt and betray you.

I wonder if there was anything I would have done differently. I hope I would have done everything differently, except I know everything would have turned out the same. That's the meaning of fate.

What stays with me most is a general sense of loss, unease, and longing for the past that cannot be relieved.