Quotes from Lisa See

One mistake can change the course of your life. You can never return to your original path or go back to the person you were.

There is only one perfect child in the world and every mother has him.

You can't fight your fate...It is predestined.

Her heart was like a great road with room for everyone.

I saw that deep-heart love meant loving someone in spite of and because of his limitations.

My mother used to tell me that Heaven never seals off all exits.

All the time, I looked out our lattice window. I watched the birds fly by. I followed the clouds on their travels. I studied the moon as it grew larger, then shrank. So much happened outside my window that I almost forgot what was happening inside that room.

She loves you. She's just forgotten how to show it.

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.

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

Confucius didn't care much for women: When a girl, obey your father; when a wife, obey your husband; when a widow, obey your son.

have forced myself to move forward, but I can never move on.

Don't ever feel that you have to hide who you are. Nothing good ever comes from keeping secrets like that.

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

When in the world did anyone die from a dream?

I want a marriage of companions—one of shared lives and shared poems,' he murmured. 'If we were husband and wife, we would collect books, read, and drink tea together. As I told you before, I'd want you for what's in here.' Again he pointed to my heart, but I felt it in a place far lower in my body.

Miracles are everywhere, and as I watch my sister--forever, beautiful, forever my little sister--staring into the eyes of the one man she ever loved, I know that indeed things do return to the beginning. The world opens again, and I see a life of happiness without fear. I gaze at my family--complicated though it may be--and know that fate smiles on us.

If fire doesn't raze the mountain, the land will not be fertile.

While she is lovely, we need to remember that her face is not what distinguishes her. Her beauty is a reflection of the virtue and talent she keeps inside.

So many mistakes. So many errors. So much tragedy as a result. In that moment I understood that the cruelest words in the universe are if only.

Rice is to nourish," A-ma says. "Tea is to heal. Always remember that food is medicine, and medicine is food. If you take care of the trees, the trees will take care of you.

Always remember If you don't love tea, you can't make good tea.

For a tree that has many branches, even a small breeze will shake some loose.

No one picks a friend for us; we come together by choice. We are not tied together through ceremony or the responsibility to create a son; we tie ourselves together through moments. The spark when we first meet. Laughter and tears shared. Secrets packed away to be treasured, hoarded, and protected. The wonder that someone can be so different from you and yet still understand your heart in a way no one else will.