Moon > Moon 's Quotes

“I've always had this theory that if I wanted something badly enough, the universe will make sure to keep it just out of my reach— either out of boredom or cruelty, like an invisible hand dangling stars on a string.”
― Ann Liang, I Am Not Jessica Chen

“It's so easy to fall into the assumption that anything someone else gains is something you lose. To think of success as some lavish party with only a limited number of invites. To convince yourself that if you could only make it to a certain point in the distance, you'll finally find a place to rest. To feel like there's always more than you can do. But I mean, look what's being done to us - to our self-esteem, to our pride, to our bodies. We're exhausted and on the verge of breaking down at any second and... somehow we're expected to just keep going.”
― Ann Liang, I Am Not Jessica Chen

“We turn pain into a story, because then it has a purpose. Then, we reason, there was a point to it all along. But sometimes pain is just pain, and there’s nothing particularly noble about clinging to it.”
― Ann Liang, I Am Not Jessica Chen

“You have to prove yourself over and over, and when the glory for your most recent achievement expires, as it must, as it always will, you have to start again, but with more eyes trained on you, more people waiting for the day your talent withers, and your discipline weakens, and your charm wears away. Success is only meant to be rented out, borrowed in small doses at a time, never to be owned completely, no matter what price you're willing to pay for it.”
― Ann Liang, I Am Not Jessica Chen

“One minute until the email from Harvard arrives. Until I can know for certain if I was accepted or not. If I'm good enough or not.”
― Ann Liang, I Am Not Jessica Chen

“They've bet everything on me- their time and energy and savings- and this is what I have to show for it. Sunk costs. A failed investment.”
― Ann Liang, I Am Not Jessica Chen

“This would be an absolutely incredible, life-changing thing if it happened to me. But for you? It's just another accomplishment, isn't it?”
― Ann Liang, I Am Not Jessica Chen

“I am not Jessica Chen. And maybe Jessica Chen herself isn't either. Maybe nobody is. The very idea of her is a construct, a myth, a distraction, the dream we're forever reaching toward but can never equite grasp.”
― Ann Liang, I Am Not Jessica Chen

“If I’d kissed you,” he goes on, “you would have wanted me for an
afternoon, and I would have wanted you for the rest of my life.”
― Ann Liang, I Am Not Jessica Chen

“It's my life, I think with amazement, and it's beautiful, and I can paint it any color I want to.”
― Ann Liang, I Am Not Jessica Chen

“Life was not perfect; there were always hidden wounds, pain disguised beneath a smile, a price to any happiness possessed. We had to bear our burdens the best we could, for we alone knew their true weight.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Tales of the Celestial Kingdom

“For we were complex creatures of shades of gray, capable of wonderful and terrible things … of change, because our natures were not fixed like the stars in the sky but flowing as the river toward an unknown horizon.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“This pain you feel . . . you might believe that you will never recover. And while it might always hurt, the pain will fade a little more each time—until one day, there will be no more tears. Just the memories and the hope, that you might find some joy in them again.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“Cry. Shout. Strike me if you will. Just don’t treat me like a stranger. Don’t pretend to be all right when you are not.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“Be careful, Little Star.” Ping’er’s hand touched my cheek gently. “The darkest of nights is when the stars shine brightest.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“Better a Demon in name than one by nature. Striking the innocent, preying on the weak.” I did not deny his false accusations; it would do no good.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“Hate me then, for I would rather have your hatred than indifference.” His eyes were the shade of wintry rivers, glints of light traveling in their depths. “The past can’t be undone, but my hope lies in our future. Trust me with your heart again and you will find the truth of mine. For you are the reason I rise each day, for you I live and breathe.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“I loved you then . . . and I miss you still.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“Wenzhi’s fingers toyed with the rim of his cup. “There might be a field of flowers, yet all I need is one.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“for at the very moment my life was illuminated by love, it had never seemed so dark.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“By refusing to see the good in them, you might lose something precious that you never allowed yourself to find.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“Trust was infinitely easier to destroy than restore.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“Everyone knew the tale of how my father had shot the suns, of my mother flying to the moon—yet sometimes in these legends it was not the how but the why. Some might think us weaker for our love, but it gave us strength we did not know we possessed. No longer would I flee, no longer would I doubt. I would step out from the shadows of my past and turn my face to what lay ahead. To live a life with love, was to live without regret. At last, I was home.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“I am proud of you, my daughter, whether you do this or not. If you cannot, there is no shame. Say it now, and we will find another way.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“I would embrace the pain, for it meant that I loved her-and I would never forget.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“If they believed ill of you so quickly, their good opinion is not worth having.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“I am not courageous; I am afford. I am no hero."
(..)
"You are," he said with feeling. "For the fools do not fear the odds, the reckless do not care - and only the truly brave proceed regardless.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“This pain you feel... you might believe that you will never recover. And while it might always hurt, the pain will fade a little more each time until one day, there will be no more tears. Just the memories and hope, that you might find some joy in them again.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“Betrayal cuts the deepest when it seems from those you love. For then you feel twice the fool, broken and hurt-all at once. For then you do not have the solace you most crave.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior

“His Celestial Majesty had taken enough from my family: my father’s immortality, my mother’s freedom, and now our home.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Heart of the Sun Warrior