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Top 400 Amy Tan Quotes (2025 Update)
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Amy Tan Quote: “You can get sucked into the idea that, ‘Gosh, this is impressive. Maybe I should do this. It will look good.’ Or ‘I’ll write like this because it will impress that critic.’”

151. “You can get sucked into the idea that, ‘Gosh, this is impressive. Maybe I should do this. It will look good.’ Or ‘I’ll write like this because it will impress that critic.’”

Amy Tan Quote: “I had on a beautiful red dress, but what I saw was even more valuable. I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind. -Lindo.”

152. “I had on a beautiful red dress, but what I saw was even more valuable. I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind. -Lindo.”

Amy Tan Quote: “No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached.”

153. “No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached.”

Amy Tan Quote: “Hope is the adrenalin of the soul.”

154. “Hope is the adrenalin of the soul.”

Amy Tan Quote: “People think it’s a terrible tragedy when somebody has Alzheimer’s. But in my mother’s case, it’s different. My mother has been unhappy all her life. For the first time in her life, she’s happy.”

155. “People think it’s a terrible tragedy when somebody has Alzheimer’s. But in my mother’s case, it’s different. My mother has been unhappy all her life. For the first time in her life, she’s happy.”

Amy Tan Quote: “What was worse, we asked among ourselves, to sit and wait for our own deaths with proper somber faces? Or to choose our own happiness?”

156. “What was worse, we asked among ourselves, to sit and wait for our own deaths with proper somber faces? Or to choose our own happiness?”

Amy Tan Quote: “My father put his life in God’s hands, and he encouraged us, his children, to believe that if we had absolute faith, God would take care of the rest. Miracles would happen.”

157. “My father put his life in God’s hands, and he encouraged us, his children, to believe that if we had absolute faith, God would take care of the rest. Miracles would happen.”

Amy Tan Quote: “This is the kind of China you Americans always see in the movies – the poor countryside, people wearing big hats to protect themselves from the sun. No, I never wore a hat like that! I was from Shanghai. That’s like thinking someone from San Francisco wears a cowboy hat and rides a horse. Ridiculous!”

158. “This is the kind of China you Americans always see in the movies – the poor countryside, people wearing big hats to protect themselves from the sun. No, I never wore a hat like that! I was from Shanghai. That’s like thinking someone from San Francisco wears a cowboy hat and rides a horse. Ridiculous!”

Amy Tan Quote: “For all these years I kept my mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out. And because I remained quiet for so long now my daughter does not hear me... All these years I kept my true nature hidden, running along like a small shadow so nobody could catch me. And because I moved so secretly now my daughter does not see me... We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing; unheard and not hearing, unknown by others.”

159. “For all these years I kept my mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out. And because I remained quiet for so long now my daughter does not hear me... All these years I kept my true nature hidden, running along like a small shadow so nobody could catch me. And because I moved so secretly now my daughter does not see me... We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing; unheard and not hearing, unknown by others.”

Amy Tan Quote: “I have a writer’s memory which makes everything worse than maybe it actually was.”

160. “I have a writer’s memory which makes everything worse than maybe it actually was.”

Amy Tan Quote: “Libraries are the pride of the city.”

161. “Libraries are the pride of the city.”

Amy Tan Quote: “And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench. All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal that was now unbreakable. So I never found a way to ask her why she had hoped something so large that failure was inevitable. And even worse, I never asked her what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope?”

162. “And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench. All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal that was now unbreakable. So I never found a way to ask her why she had hoped something so large that failure was inevitable. And even worse, I never asked her what frightened me the most: Why had she given up hope?”

Amy Tan Quote: “The forbidden things were a great influence on my life. I was forbidden from reading A Catcher in the Rye.”

163. “The forbidden things were a great influence on my life. I was forbidden from reading A Catcher in the Rye.”

Amy Tan Quote: “By my father’s own handwritten definition: “Faith is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us even though we still cannot see it ahead of us.”

164. “By my father’s own handwritten definition: “Faith is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us even though we still cannot see it ahead of us.”

Amy Tan Quote: “When you read about the lives of other people, people of different circumstances or similar circumstances, you are part of their lives for that moment. You inhabit their lives, and you feel what they’re feeling, and that is compassion. If we see that reading does allow us that, we see how absolutely essential reading is.”

165. “When you read about the lives of other people, people of different circumstances or similar circumstances, you are part of their lives for that moment. You inhabit their lives, and you feel what they’re feeling, and that is compassion. If we see that reading does allow us that, we see how absolutely essential reading is.”

Amy Tan Quote: “When I returned home that day, I saw my life as if I already knew the happy ending of a story. I looked around the house and thought, soon I will no longer have to see these walls and all the unhappiness they keep inside.”

166. “When I returned home that day, I saw my life as if I already knew the happy ending of a story. I looked around the house and thought, soon I will no longer have to see these walls and all the unhappiness they keep inside.”

Amy Tan Quote: “But later that day, the streets of Kweilin were strewn with newspapers reporting great Kuomintang victories, and on top of these papers, like fresh fish from a butcher, lay rows of people – men, women and children who had never lost hope, but had lost their lives instead.”

167. “But later that day, the streets of Kweilin were strewn with newspapers reporting great Kuomintang victories, and on top of these papers, like fresh fish from a butcher, lay rows of people – men, women and children who had never lost hope, but had lost their lives instead.”

Amy Tan Quote: “I was punched breathless by the strongest emotions I have ever felt and they are now stored in my intuition as a writer.”

168. “I was punched breathless by the strongest emotions I have ever felt and they are now stored in my intuition as a writer.”

Amy Tan Quote: “These days I realize that faith and fate have similar effects on the believer. They suggest that a higher power knows the next move and that we are at the mercy of that force. They differ, among other things, in how you try to cull beneficence and what you do to avoid disaster.”

169. “These days I realize that faith and fate have similar effects on the believer. They suggest that a higher power knows the next move and that we are at the mercy of that force. They differ, among other things, in how you try to cull beneficence and what you do to avoid disaster.”

Amy Tan Quote: “Seeing her this last time, I threw myself on her body. And she opened her eyes slowly. I was not scared. I knew she could see me and what she had finally done. So i shut her eyes with my fingers and told her with my heart: I cah see the truth, too. I am strong, too.”

170. “Seeing her this last time, I threw myself on her body. And she opened her eyes slowly. I was not scared. I knew she could see me and what she had finally done. So i shut her eyes with my fingers and told her with my heart: I cah see the truth, too. I am strong, too.”

Amy Tan Quote: “A mother is always the beggining. She is how things begin.”

171. “A mother is always the beggining. She is how things begin.”

Amy Tan Quote: “I learned about opening moves and why it’s important to control the center early on; the shortest distance between two points is straight down the middle.”

172. “I learned about opening moves and why it’s important to control the center early on; the shortest distance between two points is straight down the middle.”

Amy Tan Quote: “What use for? asks my mother, jiggling the table with her hand. You put something else on top, everything fall down.”

173. “What use for? asks my mother, jiggling the table with her hand. You put something else on top, everything fall down.”

Amy Tan Quote: “That was a wonderful period in my life. I mean, I didn’t become an artist, but somebody let me do something I loved. What a luxury, to do something you love to do.”

174. “That was a wonderful period in my life. I mean, I didn’t become an artist, but somebody let me do something I loved. What a luxury, to do something you love to do.”

Amy Tan Quote: “It means we’re looking one way, while following another. We’re for one side and also the other. We mean what we say, but our intentions are different.”

175. “It means we’re looking one way, while following another. We’re for one side and also the other. We mean what we say, but our intentions are different.”

Amy Tan Quote: “I’d like to be more forgiving. There are times when I’ve had a hard time forgiving people who have betrayed me.”

176. “I’d like to be more forgiving. There are times when I’ve had a hard time forgiving people who have betrayed me.”

Amy Tan Quote: “What do you think was the very first sound to become a word, a meaning?′... And then I realized what the first word must have been: ma, the sound of a baby smacking its lips in search of her mother’s breast. Ma, ma, ma. Then the mother decided that was her name and she began to speak, too. She taught the baby to be careful: sky, fire, tiger. A mother is always the beginning. She is how things begin.”

177. “What do you think was the very first sound to become a word, a meaning?′... And then I realized what the first word must have been: ma, the sound of a baby smacking its lips in search of her mother’s breast. Ma, ma, ma. Then the mother decided that was her name and she began to speak, too. She taught the baby to be careful: sky, fire, tiger. A mother is always the beginning. She is how things begin.”

Amy Tan Quote: “I had always assumed we had an unspoken understanding about these things: that she didn’t really mean I was a failure, and I really meant I would try to respect her opinions more.”

178. “I had always assumed we had an unspoken understanding about these things: that she didn’t really mean I was a failure, and I really meant I would try to respect her opinions more.”

Amy Tan Quote: “That is the problem with modern ink from a bottle. You do not have to think. You simply write what is swimming on the top of your brain. And the top is nothing but pond scum, dead leaves, and mosquito spawn. But when you push an inkstick along an inkstone, you take the first step to cleansing your mind and your heart. You push and you ask yourself, What are my intentions? What is in my heart that matches my mind? I.”

179. “That is the problem with modern ink from a bottle. You do not have to think. You simply write what is swimming on the top of your brain. And the top is nothing but pond scum, dead leaves, and mosquito spawn. But when you push an inkstick along an inkstone, you take the first step to cleansing your mind and your heart. You push and you ask yourself, What are my intentions? What is in my heart that matches my mind? I.”

Amy Tan Quote: “But in art, lovely subversive art, you see what breaks through in spite of restraint, or even because of it. Art despises placidity and smooth surfaces. Without art, I would have drowned under still waters.”

180. “But in art, lovely subversive art, you see what breaks through in spite of restraint, or even because of it. Art despises placidity and smooth surfaces. Without art, I would have drowned under still waters.”

Amy Tan Quote: “Chaos is the penance for leisure.”

181. “Chaos is the penance for leisure.”

Amy Tan Quote: “I had thus learned to push down my feelings, to force myself to not care, to do nothing and let things happen, come what may.”

182. “I had thus learned to push down my feelings, to force myself to not care, to do nothing and let things happen, come what may.”

Amy Tan Quote: “For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her daughter the single swan feather and tell her, ‘This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions.’ And she waited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in perfect American English.”

183. “For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her daughter the single swan feather and tell her, ‘This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions.’ And she waited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in perfect American English.”

Amy Tan Quote: “Shanghainese people are good negotiators, they’re very persistent, and you grow up in an atmosphere like that – very competitive. That becomes part of your personality, Shanghai personality becomes part of yours.”

184. “Shanghainese people are good negotiators, they’re very persistent, and you grow up in an atmosphere like that – very competitive. That becomes part of your personality, Shanghai personality becomes part of yours.”

Amy Tan Quote: “It was a distorted form of inverse logic: If hopes never come true, then hope for what you don’t want.”

185. “It was a distorted form of inverse logic: If hopes never come true, then hope for what you don’t want.”

Amy Tan Quote: “I loved fairy tales when I was a kid. Grimm. The grimmer the better. I loved gruesome gothic tales and, in that respect, I liked Bible stories, because to me they were very gothic.”

186. “I loved fairy tales when I was a kid. Grimm. The grimmer the better. I loved gruesome gothic tales and, in that respect, I liked Bible stories, because to me they were very gothic.”

Amy Tan Quote: “The best life you can have as you get into old age is good food, good teeth to eat it with, and few worries when you go to bed at night.”

187. “The best life you can have as you get into old age is good food, good teeth to eat it with, and few worries when you go to bed at night.”

Amy Tan Quote: “Now that our marriage is over, I know what love is. It’s a trick on the brain, the adrenal glands releasing endorphins. It floods the cells that transmit worry and better sense, drowns them with biochemical bliss. You can know all these things about love, yet it remains irresistible, as beguiling as the floating arms of long sleep.”

188. “Now that our marriage is over, I know what love is. It’s a trick on the brain, the adrenal glands releasing endorphins. It floods the cells that transmit worry and better sense, drowns them with biochemical bliss. You can know all these things about love, yet it remains irresistible, as beguiling as the floating arms of long sleep.”

Amy Tan Quote: “But whenever Wen Fu began to shout, she always cried, cried all night long, and would not stop until I told her more lies. “Yiku, be good, and your life will be good too.” How could I know that this is how a mother teaches her daughter to be afraid?”

189. “But whenever Wen Fu began to shout, she always cried, cried all night long, and would not stop until I told her more lies. “Yiku, be good, and your life will be good too.” How could I know that this is how a mother teaches her daughter to be afraid?”

Amy Tan Quote: “The only thing certain in times of great uncertainty is that people will behave with great strength or weakness, and with very little else in between.”

190. “The only thing certain in times of great uncertainty is that people will behave with great strength or weakness, and with very little else in between.”

Amy Tan Quote: “I did not lose myself all at once.”

191. “I did not lose myself all at once.”

Amy Tan Quote: “I had always assumed we had an unspoken understanding about these things: that she didn’t really mean I was a failure, and I really meant I would try to respect her opinions more. But listening to Auntie Lin tonight reminds me once agian: My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other’s meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more. No doubt she told Auntie Lin I was going back to school to get a doctorate.”

192. “I had always assumed we had an unspoken understanding about these things: that she didn’t really mean I was a failure, and I really meant I would try to respect her opinions more. But listening to Auntie Lin tonight reminds me once agian: My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other’s meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more. No doubt she told Auntie Lin I was going back to school to get a doctorate.”

Amy Tan Quote: “We feasted, we laughed, we played games, lost and won, we told the best stories. And each week, we could hope to be lucky. That hope was our only joy. And that’s how we came to call our little parties Joy Luck.”

193. “We feasted, we laughed, we played games, lost and won, we told the best stories. And each week, we could hope to be lucky. That hope was our only joy. And that’s how we came to call our little parties Joy Luck.”

Amy Tan Quote: “And then she had to fill out so many forms she forgot why she had come and what she had left behind.”

194. “And then she had to fill out so many forms she forgot why she had come and what she had left behind.”

Amy Tan Quote: “You should think about your character. Know where you are changing, how you will be changed, what cannot be changed back again.”

195. “You should think about your character. Know where you are changing, how you will be changed, what cannot be changed back again.”

Amy Tan Quote: “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.”

196. “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.”

Amy Tan Quote: “I think I’ve always been somebody, since the deaths of my father and brother, who was afraid to hope. So, I was more prepared for failure and for rejection than for success.”

197. “I think I’ve always been somebody, since the deaths of my father and brother, who was afraid to hope. So, I was more prepared for failure and for rejection than for success.”

Amy Tan Quote: “My favorite anything is always relative to the context of present time, place and mood. When I finish a book and want to immediately find another by the same author and no other, that author is elevated to my favorite.”

198. “My favorite anything is always relative to the context of present time, place and mood. When I finish a book and want to immediately find another by the same author and no other, that author is elevated to my favorite.”

Amy Tan Quote: “And I remembered reading an article about baby boomers, how we expect the best and when we get it we worry that maybe we should have expected more, because it’s all diminishing returns after a certain age.”

199. “And I remembered reading an article about baby boomers, how we expect the best and when we get it we worry that maybe we should have expected more, because it’s all diminishing returns after a certain age.”

Amy Tan Quote: “Maybe the kind of love that would comfort me did not exist. Perhaps I expected too much of love and no one existed who could ever meet my unceasing and bottomless need for it.”

200. “Maybe the kind of love that would comfort me did not exist. Perhaps I expected too much of love and no one existed who could ever meet my unceasing and bottomless need for it.”

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