Weike Wang > Quotes

“The optimist sees the glass half full. The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The chemist sees the glass completely full, half in liquid state and half in gaseous, both of which are probably poisonous.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“An equation.

happiness = reality - expectations
If reality > expectations, then you are happy.
If reality < expectations, then you are not.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“Eric has said that I carry close to my chest a ball of barbed wire that I sometimes throw at other people.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“A joke: What do you do with a sick chemist?
Helium. Or curium. Or barium.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“A Chinese proverb: Outside of sky there is sky, outside of people there are people. It is the idea of infinity and also that there will always be someone better than you.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“In spoken Chinese, everything is gender neutral. There is no she or he. The more I think about this now, the more I like this about the language. Man or woman? Does it matter? A person.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“Another theory about hair, not from my mother, but from the best friend. A woman who cuts her hair drastically is set to make some decisions.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“You have a brain and two hands, look up the answer yourself. You want to know how to get through life? Pay attention.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“An atom is mostly made up of empty space. If you remove the empty space from every atom, the entire world's human population could fit inside a sugar cube.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“A Chinese proverb predicts that for every man with great skill, there is a woman with great beauty. In ancient China, there are four great beauties: The first so beautiful that when fish see her reflection they forget to swim and sink. The second so beautiful that birds forget how to fly and fall. The third so beautiful that the moon refuses to shine. The fourth so beautiful that flowers refuse to bloom. I find it interesting how often beauty is shown to make the objects around it feel worse.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“Fear of following the other person despite that person being good and reasonable and kind? What phobia is that? Stupidity?”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“A habit that forms from this is that I can ask Eric questions when he is asleep.

Once I hear the first snore, I say, Why is your trajectory so straight? Why is your family so nice? It seems unfair how easy everything comes to you. In your last life you must have been a dung beetle. Or someone who gave up his life for someone else. Perhaps a pregnant woman crossing the street.

Do you remember?

Then I part his autumn hair and bring my voice down to a whisper. Please stop, just for a little while, and let me catch up. How do you expect me to marry you if you never let me catch up?”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“But, I tell myself, Weight is just an artifact of gravity. If this were a jazz club on the moon, I would weigh less.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“All comedies end in marriage. All tragedies end in death. But what about everything else in between? Life happens in the middle, I heard someone very smart say.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“You must love chemistry even when it is not working. You must love chemistry unconditionally.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“THERE IS NO REAL fight against death because death will always win. But death can be handled well or poorly.”
― Weike Wang, Joan Is Okay

“In Chinese, there is another phrase about love. It is not used for passionate love but the love between family members. In translation, it means I hurt for you.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“

Extraordinary, some people have said when he speaks now of how he got here.

Through hard work, he says, and the learning of advanced math.

Amazing, others have said.

But such progress he's made in one generation that to progress beyond him, I feel as if I must leave America and colonize the moon.

”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“The optimist sees the glass half full. The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The chemist sees the glass completely full, half in liquid state and half in gaseous, both of which is probably poisonous.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“The only difference between a poison and a cure is dosage. Drink too much water and you will die. Inhale water and you will die as well. ···”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“These words come back to me: you cannot live your life for them. Eventually they will die. I hope they never die because once they do, I will be alone.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“Don’t just break it off for the sake of it. Don’t do something drastic just to prove a point.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“In a letter to his daughter, Einstein wrote that love is the only energy in the universe that man has not learned to drive at will. He posited to be the universal force scientists have overlooked.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“The mark of a poor comedian is not making the other person laugh. The mark of a worse comedian is asking if the person got it.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“I don't remember ever seeing my parents hold hands, or hug, or kiss. I wonder if this is why when I hear affectionate words, I want to jump off tall buildings despite a crippling fear of heights.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“Much of any culture can be linked back to eating and food, food and care, eating and language. To eat one's feelings, to eat dust, words, to eat your own heart out, to eat someone else alive, to eat your cake and have it too, things that are adorable (puppies, babies) that are said to be good enough to eat, to have someone else eat out of the palm of your hand, to be chewed out, a dog-eat-dog world. Chinese isn't any different from English in this way. Chī for "eat," and chī sù, to only eat vegetables, but also, colloquially, to be a pushover. Chī cù, to eat vinegar or be jealous. Chī lì, to eat effort, as for a task that is very strenuous. To eat surprise, to be amazed, chī jī ng. To be completely full or chī bǎo fàn, and thus to have nothing better to do. To eat punishment or get the worst of it, chī kuī. And, most important, to eat hardship, suffering, and pain, chī kǔ, a defining Chinese quality, to be able to bear a great deal without showing a crack.”
― Weike Wang, Joan Is Okay

“The price of success is steep and I've never been able to distinguish it from the feeling of sacrifice. If I could hold success in my hand, it would be a beating heart.”
― Weike Wang, Joan Is Okay

“When i get into the best college in America, he is cutting radishes for dinner. I have just found out ten minutes ago. I am elated. He puts down the knife to shake my hand and then goes back to cutting radishes.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“At our next session, the shrink calls this metaphor psychological warfare. You must rise above it, she says. They're just words being said many miles away.

That phrase about sticks and stones and bones.

But my bones are very brittle. And I am lactose intolerant.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“A woman who twirls her hair while speaking is a woman never to be taken seriously”
― Weike Wang, Joan Is Okay