China Mountain Zhang Quotes

“In my experience ideology is a lot like religion; it's a belief system and most people cling to it long after it becomes clear that their ideology doesn't describe the real world.”
― Maureen F. McHugh

“Like I told you, I’m not interested. I think the party is mostly a means of advancing one’s career anyway.”

“Exactly, and your decision not to join is a political decision.”

“Well, then my political decision is to not be political."

“Exactly, that’s a political statement. You are expressing your opinion about current politics. Except you are political, everything we do is political…”

“It’s a practical decision, not a political one… We don’t have to analyze everyone’s lives for motives.”

“I wasn’t saying it’s wrong… I was just pointing out that your life says something about your politics whether you think about them or not. You can either just let that happen or you can think about the kind of choices you want to make.”

“I’d like to continue to make my choices because they fit my life rather than out of some sense of ideology… In my experience ideology is a lot like religion; it’s a belief system and most people cling to it long after it becomes clear that their ideology doesn’t describe the real world…”

“That’s as pure a description of an applied political theory as any I’ve ever heard.”
― Maureen F. McHugh

“Government is big, we are small. We are only free when we slip through the cracks.”
― Maureen F. McHugh

“History is sensitive dependent on initial conditions. You cannot predict the future.”
― Maureen F. McHugh

“I always forget that half of the people who watch us fly are waiting to see us die.”
― Maureen F. McHugh

“I don't believe in socialism but I don't believe in capitalism either. We are small, governments are large, we survive in the cracks. Cold comfort.”
― Maureen F. McHugh

“Wuxi Engineering Complex wasn’t detailed by a team, it was detailed by one woman, using, of course, feedback from the departments that would be using the building.” I gape. “Exactly,” she says, smiling. “A team would not have constructed the building as a unit, but as a series of connected, but compromised and adjusted, ideas.” “It can’t be done. It had to have taken years.” “It did take over two years, but it can be done.”
― Maureen F. McHugh

“At Cuo, everyone will stare at me. And even though I know I’m not ugly any more I’m afraid to have them all look at me. They’ll be thinking about my old face and comparing it to my new one. I don’t want to be the old San-xiang anymore.”
― Maureen F. McHugh

“But I am only free in small places. Government is big, we are small. We are only free when we slip through the cracks.”
― Maureen F. McHugh

“Funny, when I was growing up I didn’t know that waiguoren meant foreigner, because the ABC were the foreigners to me. I always thought it meant not-Chinese.”
― Maureen F. McHugh