Jo > Jo's Quotes

“The most important ingredient that goes into a pie is the love that goes into making it.”
― Sarah Weeks, Pie

“To my faithful readers, because a book is like a pie—the only thing more satisfying than cooking up the story is knowing that somebody might be out there eating it up with a spoon.”
― Sarah Weeks, Pie

“Food was how my mother expressed her love. No matter how critical or cruel she could seem—constantly pushing me to meet her intractable expectations—I could always feel her affection radiating from the lunches she packed and the meals she prepared for me just the way I liked them.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“I remember these things clearly because that was how my mother loved you, not through white lies and constant verbal affirmation, but in subtle observations of what brought you joy, pocketed away to make you feel comforted and cared for without even realizing it.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“How can I describe the chaos that is a dim sum restaurant in the heart of San Gabriel Valley at 11 a.m.?”
― Jesse Q. Sutanto, Dial A for Aunties

“The table being round means all the dishes are equally within reach of everyone, but Chinese family meals aren't complete without everyone serving food to everyone else, because doing so shows love and respect, which means we all need to do it in the most attention-seeking way possible. What's the point of giving Big Aunt the biggest siu mai if nobody else notices?”
― Jesse Q. Sutanto, Dial A for Aunties

“Such was puberty, one big masochistic joke set in the halfway house of middle school, where kids endure the three most confusing and sensitive years of their lives, where girls who've already sprouted D cups and know about blow jobs sit besides girls in trainers from the Gap who still have crushes on anime characters.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“Cooking my mother's food had come to represent an absolute role reversal, a role I was meant to fill. Food was an unspoken language between us, had come to symbolize our return to each other, our bonding, our common ground.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“It felt like the world had divided into two different types of people, those who had felt pain and those who had yet to.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“When one person collapses, the other instinctively shoulders their weight.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“Unlike the second languages I attempted to learn in high school, there are Korean words I inherently understand without ever having learned their definition. There is no momentary translation that mediates the transition from one language to another. Parts of Korean just exist somewhere as part of my psyche--words imbued with their pure meaning, not their English substitutes.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“It's like you can't even bear to hope for this incredible, potentially life-changing thing because not getting it would be way too devastating. But then actually getting it could also be devastating, in different ways. You don't want to feel that way, so you're trying to avoid it by feeling...nothing.”
― Sarah Kuhn, From Little Tokyo, with Love

“It's like no one sees all of me, exactly. Because no one wants to.”
― Sarah Kuhn, From Little Tokyo, with Love

“It blows my mind that they all have felt this way. That belonging isn't as easy for other people as I seem to think it is. That everyone, at some point, doesn't feel like a whole version of themselves.”
― Sarah Kuhn, From Little Tokyo, with Love

“Because there's nothing wrong with being angry. You need that anger to tell you when something's not right. To tell you when you care. To show you when you need to fight hard for what you want and stand up for the people you love.”
― Sarah Kuhn, From Little Tokyo, with Love

“The gospel of Christ wasn't just revolution "back then" (two thousand years ago) or isn't just revolution "someday" (in heaven). It is also right now, right where you are, with the people who surround you in your job, your life, your hobby, your home. Jesus is a threat to everything, for he turns all things upside down. Our job as the community of his followers is neither to add to nor to take away from the offense of Jesus and his message.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Jesus is not vitally committed to our comfort and safety; he is committed to the advancing of his kingdom revolution in the hearts of people everywhere.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“God will guide those whose hearts are open to follow.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“If you passionately commit yourself to living out his purposes and advancing his kingdom, then God will make sure you live in his will. Trust him that if you are not going in the right direction, he will redirect you. But, I urge you, if you are paralyzed by the idea of the will of God, do something. Doing anything God-honoring is far better than doing nothing at all.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“We say to God, 'Show me and I'll believe.' Instead, God says to us, 'Believe, and I'll show you.' This is the life of following Jesus Christ. We say, 'God, show me your will and I'll obey you.' God says, 'Obey me, and I'll show you my will.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Actins, practices, and resources that are sometimes part of pursuing genuine faith are not bad things in themselves. In fact, I believe genuine faith leads to changes in outward behavior... But when the externals become substitutes for the real thing--an authentic relationship with God--they have fallen to the level of empty religion.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Rules and rituals are given to God's people to remind them what God is like and what he's called them to. God's commands are for our good, but they (by themselves) do not make us right with him.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“God is not looking for 'more and more' obedience but 'deeper and deeper' obedience. True obedience is of the heart. Externals matter only to the degree that they reflect (and affect) the heart.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Jesus's summary of the whole law is simply this: love God and love each other. Focusing on externals will never make that happen. Religion can help us act lovingly, but it can't turn us into loving people. Only the power of God can do that.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“The circle of those whom God loves has always been bigger than the circle the church has drawn. That is the scandal of grace.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Saying you believe in something is one thing but living like you believe is often another. If your words and actions disagree, which will more loudly declare your beliefs?”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“What you believe and what you trust are always revealed in how you live and act.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Trust always reveals itself in behavior. Trust in Jesus is no exception; it involves much more than just mentally agreeing with information about him. Trusting Jesus, like trusting other things, should show up in how we actually live.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“The followers of Jesus weren't immediately known as 'Christians.' Instead they were known as followers of the Way--a way of life instituted by Jesus. Following Jesus was understood not as an act of believing but primarily as a way of living.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“So much of our teaching on what it means to follow Jesus depends on getting people to do 'spiritual' disciplines: Bible reading, solitude, fasting, service, prayer--these are all necessary and vitally important disciplines. But they are not the only ways we express spirituality, nor are they the only disciplines that are spiritual in nature.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?