Ovidia Yu > Quotes

“As Aunty Lee always said, you can’t cut out bad memories without removing part of your heart, but you can always create good memories to override them.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Delights

“As far as Aunty Lee was concerned, people ought to go through the ideas they carried around in their heads as regularly as they turned out their store cupboards. No matter how wisely you shopped, there would be things in the depths that were past their expiration dates or gone damp and moldy---or that has been picked up on impulse and were no longer relevant. Aunty Lee believed everything inside a head or cupboard could affect everything else in it by going bad or just taking up more space than it was worth.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Delights

“I had seen enough of Western courtship rituals to know European families did little to identify, research and arrange suitable marriages. Instead, to catch the attention of potential partners, Western males had to resort to shows of strength, aggression and virility, rather like wild boars in the mating season, and Western females had to decorate themselves and their homes, like bower birds.”
― Ovidia Yu, The Frangipani Tree Mystery

“Rich people, Aunty Lee thought, were the hardest to pin down when it came to money matters. They thought nothing of writing a check for a twenty-thousand-dollar donation if it got their name up on a wall but they never had enough change to leave a tip at the café.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials

“Years of balancing home and Mission School life had taught me to seize all opportunities as soon as they arose, before they could be snatched away.”
― Ovidia Yu, The Frangipani Tree Mystery

“staying home because she had turned down an invitation always felt better than staying home because she had no alternative.”
― Ovidia Yu, Meddling and Murder

“One thing about a tiny island like Singapore is that every man, woman, and monkey in it originated from somewhere else. Whether your distant ancestors sailed from China, India, the Malay archipelago or the United Kingdom, your decision to stay is the only thing that makes you Singaporean. Your presence counts more than your origins.

At least, that’s how it was supposed to be. Beneath an upper crust of white colonial administrators, the rest of us were muddled together like a savoury stew under mashed potatoes.”
― Ovidia Yu, The Betel Nut Tree Mystery

“Sometimes you needed something just a little different and disconcerting to remind you not to take for granted the things that you had chosen to keep close to you in daily life.”
― Ovidia Yu, Meddling and Murder

“In life as in recipes, it was often the smallest pinch of contrasting flavor--the lightest splash of seasoning savored undetected--that made all the difference to a dish.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Delights

“I knew the women were searching for something more precious than watches or coins. They were peering into the faces of the dead, hoping to be disappointed.”
― Ovidia Yu, The Mimosa Tree Mystery

“Daring to go ahead is one thing, but realising you are on the wrong boat and need to get off requires even more bravery. Especially when all your family are on board, insisting that all is well.”
― Ovidia Yu, The Mushroom Tree Mystery

“She cooked the way some people drove - while carrying on conversations, applying lipstick, and texting messages - trusting the instinct that came with long practice and only focusing on the main task when something unexpected came up or went wrong.
Fortunately Aunty Lee did not drive.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Delights

“We all need routines and rituals to anchor us. You don’t have any right now,” Mark said. “I learned that in an online course. You need new rituals even if things change for a short period. That’s why people enjoy holiday cruises and vacation stays, because they can set up new patterns. At home people follow routines without thinking. But now why not use this time to take the path less traveled?” “In Singapore, finding a path with less people traveling means you are in the restricted army training area and somebody will shoot you!” Aunty Lee said with mock sulkiness. Mark laughed and planted a kiss on her forehead.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge

“Mrs MacPherson looked very proud of her son. It made me think about the different lessons people try to pass on to children about money. And about who controls that money.”
― Ovidia Yu, The Betel Nut Tree Mystery

“Seeing possible good outcomes was a choice, not hopeless naïveté.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge

“Married women throw themselves at me. When you’re a wealthy man in an important position, they let you do it–they expect you to do it. I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women and I meant no offence. In fact, the way I see it, if I didn’t flirt with you, I would be insulting you.”
― Ovidia Yu, The Betel Nut Tree Mystery

“In Pahang Sir Henry used to go shooting with the Sultan so he thought he was such a big shot. Do you get my joke? Big shot!”
― Ovidia Yu, The Frangipani Tree Mystery

“Miss Moorthy was aware that her interested concern in everybody’s well-being might be seen by the uncharitable as busybodyness. To Miss Moorthy it was simply a matter of setting things right starting from where she was. She could not single-handedly save the Amazonian rainforests but she could, and did, stop students from carving their names on trees or trampling on plants. It was all the same thing on a different scale, wasn’t it?”
― Ovidia Yu, Miss Moorthy Investigates

“Don’t so silly lah, Silly-Nah.” Entertained as she was, Cherril realized she had unconsciously been acting the same way toward Aunty Lee. It was too easy to treat the physically weak as though they were stupid.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge

“You can't cut out bad memories without removing part of your heart, but you can always create good memories to override them.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Delights

“It felt good to be alive. Better to be living with fools than dead in the company of sages, as my grandmother always said.”
― Ovidia Yu, The Paper Bark Tree Mystery

“That was the problem with Australians playing tourist. They dressed for comfort and it was impossible to tell how much they were worth.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Delights

“people ought to go through the ideas they carried around in their heads as regularly as they turned out their store cupboards. No matter how wisely you shopped, there would be things in the depths that were past their expiration dates or gone damp and moldy—or that had been picked up on impulse and were no longer relevant. Aunty Lee believed everything inside a head or cupboard could affect everything else in it by going bad or just taking up more space than it was worth.”
― Ovidia Yu, Aunty Lee's Delights