Maxine Hong Kingston

Quotes

• “"You must not tell anyone," my mother said, "what I am about to tell you."”

• “Maybe it comes from living in San Francisco, city of clammy humors and foghorns that warn and warn-omen, o-o-men, o dolorous omen, o dolors of omens-and not enough sun, but Wittman Ah Sing considered suicide every day. Entertained it.”

• “Before we can leave our parents, they stuff our heads like the suitcases which they jam-pack with homemade underwear.”

• “The difference between mad people and sane people...is that sane people have variety when they talk-story. Mad people have only one story that they talk over and over.”

• “The images of peace are ephemeral. The language of peace is subtle. The reasons for peace, the definitions of peace, the very idea of peace have to be invented, and invented again.”