Deborah Fallows > Quotes

“The mark of a successful city is having a river walk, whether or not there is a river.”
― Deborah Fallows, Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America

“One day, in a grocery store, I swept clean a shelf of microbrew beer for my husband and three giant jars of mustard, leaving none for future shoppers. It was victory tinged with guilt. What would the next expat shopper think, when looking for beer or mustard? I couldn't afford to think about them. Every man for himself, in modern China!”
― Deborah Fallows, Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, And Language

“Inside public libraries you see the people, programs, problems, and answers that offer a genuine look into the heart and soul of a town.”
― Deborah Fallows, Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America

“Similarly, you should never give a clock as a wedding present, because the word for “clock” zhōng  sounds the same as the word for “end” zhōng , which might suggest the end of the relationship. And at Chinese New Year, you should hang the banner with the symbol for fú  or “good fortune” upside down beside your doorway, because the word dào means both “to arrive” and “upside down”. Hence hanging good fortune (fú)  upside down (dào) also means good fortune (fú)  will arrive (dào) at your doorstep in the coming year.”
― Deborah Fellows, Dreaming in Chinese: ... and Discovering What Makes a Billion People Tick