Top 40 Kelly Yang Quotes (2025 Update)

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

— Kelly Yang

2. “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

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

— Kelly Yang

4. “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

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

— Kelly Yang

8. “You can’t win if you don’t play!”

— Kelly Yang

9. “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

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

— Kelly Yang

11. “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

12. “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

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

— Kelly Yang

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

— Kelly Yang

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

— Kelly Yang

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

— Kelly Yang

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

— Kelly Yang

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

— Kelly Yang

19. “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

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

— Kelly Yang

21. “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

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

— Kelly Yang

23. “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

24. “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

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

— Kelly Yang

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

— Kelly Yang

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

— Kelly Yang

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

— Kelly Yang

29. “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

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

— Kelly Yang

31. “Broadway, New York, NY 10012.”

— Kelly Yang

32. “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

33. “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

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

— Kelly Yang

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

— Kelly Yang

36. “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

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

— Kelly Yang

38. “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

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

— 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