Yeng Tan > Quotes

“Yesterday, as I sat in my living room, I was able to see the stars. Specifically, the seven Dipper stars that make the Great Bear. It was not something I thought possible, given the haze and pollution covering the sky, but they radiated at me, called for me. These stars—there were thousands of them if not more; some I could name, some I could not— were all present, having emerged from the emerald sky at twilight. It was during this that I realized something I had long forgotten in my solitude; that they represented every- thing of importance to me. In existence and out of reach, they were fixed forever in the sky that those before and after me were to experience all the same. Indestructible, like memories I could forget but not destroy.”
― Yeng K. Tan, Mister Yam

“Right and wrong are sometimes a question of timing.”
― Yeng K. Tan, Mister Yam

“I was a tiny Martian, on a new planet, trying to make sense of the environment around me. Was I suffocating on the unfamiliar air? Or had I taken oxygen for granted?”
― Yeng K. Tan, Mister Yam