Bone Quotes

“I believe in holding still. I believe that the secrets we hold in our hearts are our anchors, that even the unspoken between us is a measure of our every promise to the living and to the dead. And all our promises, like all our hopes, move us through life with the power of an ocean liner pushing through the sea.”
― Fae Myenne Ng, Bone

“I love the way he wears his face, tough and closed to outsiders, but open to me”
― Fae Myenne Ng, Bone

“One thing I liked about Mason: he said things. I mean, I thought about a lot of things, but I never actually said them. Out loud. I turned away from him, gave a kick under the covers to show my irritation.”
― Fae Myenne Ng, Bone

“Looking out, I thought, So this is what Chinatown looks like from inside those dark Greyhound buses; this slow view, these strange color combinations, these narrow streets, this is what tourists come to see. I felt a small lightening up inside, because I knew, no matter what people saw, no matter how close they looked, our inside story is something entirely different. I knew the dangers of closing up, but I didn't care. Right then, I didn't want people looking in at us. I wanted to slide down deeper into myself; I wanted to hide from everything.”
― Fae Myenne Ng, Bone

“Fault. In English or in Cantonese, that was the word we were all afraid of. I held it like a seed in my mouth. As kids, the three of us loved to suck on dried plums. Long after the sour and salty fruit dissolved, the seed stayed sweet, the true secret. Now I was afraid my secret guilt would start to grow sweet, and I would never want to spit it out.”
― Fae Myenne Ng, Bone

“I knew I'd be tongue-tied soon, so I tried to press my worry down by telling myself what Grandpa Leong used to tell me, that the best way to conquer fear is to act.
Open the mouth and tell.”
― Fae Myenne Ng, Bone

“One truth opened another. Ona still shaded everything we did. Ona's death was the last family affair. I'd seen Man suffer. I'd seen her break. Now more than anything. I wanted to see her happy.”
― Fae Myenne Ng, Bone