Peter Ho Davies Motivational Quotes
“sniffing the musty air and peering up at the blotchy continents of mildew, the parchment-colored walls rising to the long ridge above,”
“The first Chinese star, they call her, and it’s the qualifications that are crucial. First. Chinese. A star may play only him- or herself, but she is supposed to play a race. How can she be herself and represent millions, both at once? And who does she represent them to? To themselves or others? “Who does she thinks she is?” an outraged Nationalist critic has demanded. She wishes she could say.
Not a star, then. A star gives off its own light. Another celestial body, a moon, reflecting others’ light.”
“That war had almost torn the country in two, but the railroad, men said, had bound it back together, the tracks and ties like sutures to a wound, now fading to a scar.”
“It won’t necessarily last, they know, but they cherish it all the more for that. You only know luck by its opposite.”
“Maybe it’s a kind of freedom too. To stay home.”
“This is what men will never understand, she realizes…Their dishonor, men’s dishonor, can always be redeemed, defeat followed by victory, capture by escape, escape by capture. Up hill and down dale. But women are dishonored once and for all. Their only hope is to hide it. To keep it to themselves.”
“Asking for sympathy is just another way of asking for permission.”
“All the years of ritual—undressing and dressing, diaper changes, potty time, bath time, tooth brushing, reading, hugs and kisses—are so exhausting. If they don’t fall asleep beside him, whoever is on bedtime duty stumbles downstairs, announces wearily, “And that concludes today’s parenting.” Until the next day, and the next and the next. As if it were a curse and not a blessing. As if it really were forever.”
