Top 40 Kelly Yang Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “The worst thing that can happen to me has already happened.”

— Kelly Yang

2. “I listened to my inner coach, and I ignored my inner enemy,” Gao replied with a smile. “The toughest opponent is always yourself.”

— Kelly Yang

3. “But you can’t give up on people. It’s one of the three keys of friendship. You gotta listen, you gotta care, and most importantly, you gotta keep trying.”

— Kelly Yang

4. “I have fear every day... But let me tell you something about fear: If you don’t control it, it controls you.”

— Kelly Yang

5. “The pain broke my heart into a thousand pieces.”

— Kelly Yang

6. “I wondered which was better – to have had something for just a second and then have it taken away, or to have never had it at all.”

— Kelly Yang

7. “Welcome to America! Where everyone walks around in gym clothes and nobody goes to the gym!”

— Kelly Yang

8. “We’re all connected to each other. We all breathe the same air into our lungs. None of us are immune to each other’s problems, that’s why we have to care about each other.”

— Kelly Yang

9. “Tomorrow, she’ll get up and say a bunch of woke words she doesn’t believe, and everyone will clap and smile and feel good about themselves, while the world continues to spin in the sexist, racist, classist mess that it is.”

— Kelly Yang

10. “As she starts the car, I put my feet up on the dash. Two girls from opposite sides of the earth, emerging from the ashes, stronger.”

— Kelly Yang

11. “No way am I going to let it go to greedy Mr. Delaney and his stale cookies.”

— Kelly Yang

12. “You know what you are in English? You’re a bicycle, and the other kids are cars.”

— Kelly Yang

13. “Sometimes terrible things happen, but there’s nothing more terrible than not having anybody to tell it to.”

— Kelly Yang

14. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll make friends, and if I don’t, I’ll borrow books from the library.”

— Kelly Yang

15. “Just because you have an important job doesn’t mean you’re better than everybody else.”

— Kelly Yang

16. “Do you ever get the feeling like everyone’s looking at you but no one actually sees you?”

— Kelly Yang

17. “Here we treat everyone like family,” I said. “No matter who you are and where you came from. That’s what makes it special to me.”

— Kelly Yang

18. “America is a nation of immigrants. Our founders were immigrants. They worked hard to create a country that would welcome everyone.”

— Kelly Yang

19. “Race might be a social construct, but racism’s as real as the clouds,” he said, pointing at the sky. “You can see it, and you can feel it when it pours.”

— Kelly Yang

20. “Sometimes a mistake is actually an opportunity, but we just can’t see it right then and there” -Dad.”

— Kelly Yang

21. “It’s like being a pencil, when everyone else is a pen,” she finally said. “You worry you can be erased anytime.”

— Kelly Yang

22. “Is this what the rest of my life is going to be like? Moments of happiness punctured by the memory of what happened, like a bomb which can detonate at any time.”

— Kelly Yang

23. “And by the way, your cookies are stale.”

— Kelly Yang

24. “We’re immigrants,” she said. “Our lives are never fair.”

— Kelly Yang

25. “Girl, justice is something Americans invented to sell movies.”

— Kelly Yang

26. “Friendship is kind of like a river – there are ebbs and flows. Jus because you’re in an ebb doesn’t mean the whole river’s dried up.”

— Kelly Yang

27. “Sometimes, problems seem humongous in your head, but if you tell someone, you’d be surprised what can happen.”

— Kelly Yang

28. “Broadway, New York, NY 10012.”

— Kelly Yang

29. “You can’t win if you don’t play!”

— Kelly Yang

30. “Labels were like soda cans – they get thrown around a lot, but if you crush them with your feet, they don’t take up any space at all.”

— Kelly Yang

31. “As a small business owner, I refuse to give up or to be intimidated. I think the only way to compete with big business is with big heart.”

— Kelly Yang

32. “Love is the only vaccine for hate. It’s love that gets us through the hard times. And it’s love that will bind us back together as a community, nation, and world.”

— Kelly Yang

33. “Is China in Japan?” Stuart asked. Jason turned around and glared at him. “No, idiot, it’s not in Japan.” Stuart shriveled in his seat. “Well, where’s China, then?” he asked. “In China!” Jason said. “Oh.”

— Kelly Yang

34. “Have you eaten” in Chinese culture is as close to “I love you” and “I forgive you” as you can get.”

— Kelly Yang

35. “Sometimes you just need to look at a problem in a different way to solve it.”

— Kelly Yang

36. “The Bay Area traffic is so slow, it’s like waiting for a GIF to load.”

— Kelly Yang

37. “We never know that life’s going to throw at us. But one thing we can control is how we treat each other.”

— Kelly Yang

38. “With Chinese mothers, it’s always easier to eat more than to talk.”

— Kelly Yang

39. “In moments of human tragedy, we need to show compassion and kindness.”

— Kelly Yang

40. “My sentences were such potato chips compared to his literary souffles.”

— Kelly Yang

41. “That was the problem with keeping a secret – you are all alone, on your own little island.”

— Kelly Yang