Author

My mother said I was a clingy kid until I was about four. I also remember that from the age of eight she and I fought almost every day.

From Amy Tan

I was intelligent enough to make up my own mind. I not only had freedom of choice, I had freedom of expression.

From Amy Tan

The forbidden things were a great influence on my life. I was forbidden from reading A Catcher in the Rye.

From Amy Tan

In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.

From Amy Tan

I have survivor skills. Some of that is superficial - what I present to people outwardly - but what makes people resilient is the ability to find humour and irony in situations that would otherwise overpower you.

From Amy Tan

My parents had very high expectations. They expected me to get straight A's from the time I was in kindergarten.

From Amy Tan

No one can travel your own road for you; you must travel it for yourself. My faith in this stems from my childhood. I grew up in a family with a system of religious beliefs handed down to me.

From Amy Tan

Who knows where inspiration comes from. Perhaps it arises from desperation. Perhaps it comes from the flukes of the universe, the kindness of the muses.

From Amy Tan

I have a writer's memory which makes everything worse than maybe it actually was.

From Amy Tan

Our uniqueness makes us special, makes perception valuable - but it can also make us lonely. This loneliness is different from being 'alone': You can be lonely even surrounded by people. The feeling I'm talking about stems from the sense that we can never fully share the truth of who we are. I experienced this acutely at an early age.

From Amy Tan

Amy Tan

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