Anchee Min > Quotes

“If you can't go back to your mother's womb, you'd better learn to be a good fighter.”
― Anchee Min, Red Azalea: A Memoir

“The sun doesn't just hang on one family's tree”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“lack of will power leads to more failure than lack of intelligence or ability.”
― Anchee Min

“my mother was taught the ch'an concept of happiness, which was to find satisfaction in small things. i was taught to appreciate the fresh air in the morning, the colour of leaves turning red in autumn and the water's smoothness when i soaked my hands in the basin.”
― anchee min

“My mind swirled with memories of the life I had led. The constant struggle to keep up appearances, the pretenses, the smiles that had been met with tears. The long sleepless nights, the loneliness that cloaked my spirit and turned me into a true ghost.”
― Anchee Min

“I was happy not to be in his place. He could command my death, but not his. But then, what kind of power was his? He was a prisoner of himself.”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“We were meant to survive because of our minds' ability to reason, our ability to live with frustration in order to maintain our virtue. We wore smiling masks while dying inside.”
― Anchee Min

“I think about giving up. I almost do.”
― Anchee Min

“Do you know who Karl Marx is? He is this strange little man, long dead, who lived his narrow little life, and somehow managed by the power of his wayward brain to lay hold upon millions of human lives!”
― Anchee Min, Pearl of China

“Like a singing river
You break out to flow freely
I am the mountain behind
Happily I watch you
Memory of us
Full and sweet”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“When farmers lose their land, they lose their soul,”
― Anchee Min, The Last Empress

“Prezirem ljude koji se svijaju kako vjetar puše.”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“The weak one waits for opportunity while the strong one creates.”
― Anchee Min, Pearl of China

“Gorko gutaj u gorčini;tako ćeš biti najbolji kad dođe dobro.”
― Anchee Min, Red Azalea: A Memoir

“To give to is to accept your fate.
To give to is to create peace.
To give to is to gain the upper hand, and
To give to is to have it all.”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“Mother once told me that one had to lower one's head when passing under low eaves in order to avoid injury.”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“The lonely ones are making their moves with us, struggling with a fright that is so deep it has blinded their inner-sight. They know they will be shot if caught, so do we. They regard this moment as their last performance, so do we. The fright sweetens the mood. We are near to death as well as to heaven.”
― Anchee Min, Red Azalea: A Memoir

“Misery is the work of the mind," Nuharoo said as she took a sip of her tea. "Master it and you will feel nothing but happiness. The beauty of my nails has not been damaged, because they stayed inside the protectors.”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“Tea, opera and poetry should not be missed—longevity depends on one's mental cultivation.”
― Anchee Min, The Last Empress

“Tea tasted the best at its second pouring. A”
― Anchee Min, Red Azalea: A Memoir

“The most important lesson he taught me was that there was no one singular perspective on things or emotions in the universe—no one way of comprehending truth.”
― Anchee Min, Pearl of China

“I led my schoolmates in collecting pennies. We wanted to donate the pennies to the starving children in America.”
― Anchee Min, Red Azalea: A Memoir

“Vjetar pokazuje svoje tijelo kroz drhtavo lišće.”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“Zabranjeni grad je pjesma u svojem najčistijem obliku. On je moj duhovni vrt gdje mogu leći među cvijeće i otpočinuti.”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“My life so far was a piece of embroidery with every stitch sewn by my own hands.”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“Your hands are too small to cover the sky.”
― Anchee Min, Red Azalea: A Memoir

“Imi spuse ca era adevarat ca nici una dintre operele exemplare nu vorbea despre dragoste. I-am spus: Eu nu cred ca eroii nu au deloc iubiti in vietile lor. Nu cred ca o minte omeneasca ar putea ramane neatinsa de emotii profunde.”
― Anchee Min, Red Azalea: A Memoir

“I stood in the wind and tried to get through the moment.”
― Anchee Min, The Last Empress

“In my old age, whenever I tired of working or thought of quitting, I would go and visit the ruins of Yuan Ming Yuan. The moment I stepped among the broken stones, I could hear the barbarians cheering. The image would choke me as if the smoke still clung in the air.”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid

“He could order my death, but he couldn't order himself one.”
― Anchee Min, Empress Orchid