Sunshine Nails Quotes

“All you had to do was want it bad enough. They could take away her salon, but they could never take away the power she wielded in the flick of her fingertip.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Who gets to decide what hard work looks like? Who decides what ideas are the best? And what of privilege and luck, as if they didn't overwhelmingly shape the trajectory of our lives?”
― Mai Nguyễn, Sunshine Nails

“Jessica never understood the power of gossip until she worked at the nail salon. It gave people who had nothing to talk about a reason to engage with one another, to create closeness through the exchange of closely guarded information.”
― Mai Nguyễn, Sunshine Nails

“Jessica wondered what that must be like, to be such a devoted wife who sacrificed herself for her husband like it was an uncontrollable tic. What was it that made her do it time and time again? Was it love? Loyalty? Pride? Perhaps this was the secret to a lasting marriage. If so, then maybe it was a good thing she never married Brett. She had zero desire to give up so much of herself.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“We? They? Jessica kept quiet as she tried to figure out which one of those camps Savannah had ascribed her to. Was she the we: honorable and deserving? Or was she the they: suspicious and untrustworthy?”
― Mai Nguyễn, Sunshine Nails

“He once believed that friends stayed friends forever, that love was like a rom-com, that bad things only happened to bad people. Today, she got to witness the moment he learned the lie that hard work always gets rewarded.”
― Mai Nguyễn, Sunshine Nails

“That’s why I wrote Sunshine Nails. For all the immigrant nail techs out there. I hope you enjoyed being the main characters for once.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Yes, I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna open my own salon.” She turned to look at Debbie and Phil. “I know this sounds crazy, but I can do it. I know I can. You won’t have to work ever again. I mean it. I’m going to take care of you both from now on.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Our heritage buildings and conservation areas are under threat by our government and they think they can get away with it! They consulted tech firms, multimillion-dollar companies, real estate investors, all while completely ignoring us!”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“I’m guessing. I think your parents know a thing or two about being ashamed and ostracized. That’s why they were the only people who didn’t disappear from my life. If it weren’t for them, I’d probably be dead in a ditch somewhere, rotting for weeks before some dog walker accidentally found me.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“What’s in it for you, the money aside? You can’t tell me you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart. No woman possessing your beauty and intelligence would give up two years of her life to make some scrawny kid’s dream come true.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Some people just work harder than others. And some just have better ideas than others. Take Ten has earned their right to be there. That’s it. That’s all it is. The universe doesn’t owe you anything. Don’t turn it into something it isn’t and definitely don’t play the victim card when we all know your family is far from innocent.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“She beamed. There was something truly fulfilling about helping her parents’ business thrive. She always wanted to repay them for all the sacrifices they made. And this seemed to be the perfect way to do it.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Fuck you. I knew you people were fucking uncivilized. You think you can make something out of yourself? You’re nothing! All people see when they see you are your hands. That’s all you’ll ever be good for!”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Did he really expect her to buy any of this? What bullshit, Debbie wanted to say. He fed off people’s financial problems and then threw those same problems back at them and called it work? Secondly, it always infuriated her when people said work wasn’t everything.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Is that so? A girl like you should be married by now. Start a family, buy a house, have a kid, throw a đầy tháng just like this.” He laughed, revealing another gold cap in the back of his mouth.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“They wouldn’t have to work every day. Instead, they could go for leisurely swims in the rooftop pool, ride around the city in their shiny scooters, then come back to their air-conditioned home and eat like kings. They would have lived a happier life, Debbie was sure of this.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“It can’t be a coincidence. The same week we decide to run this promotion, they decide to run theirs? It’s obvious they’re trying to steal our customers.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“That woman’s got something going on in her head,” Debbie said. “How could she possibly think we were Korean? Look at this stubby nose! They don’t make it like this in Korea!”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“This was why they were always telling Dustin he should’ve gone into politics or law or teaching, a job where the whole point was to be persuasive.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“What was she still doing in Toronto? And here of all places? She did not seem like the kind of person who would be caught dead gorging on a bottomless pit of greasy food among a cacophony of screaming infants and clumsy servers.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Like I said, young children should not be paying so much for their rent just so they can claim to have some kind of false sense of independence,” said Phil. “You’re better off saving it and spending it on your future family.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Plus, it would make up for all those years she phoned it in and sent him e-cards on his birthday, which she later discovered he never opened because he thought they would give his computer a virus.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“These were the sorts of assumptions Debbie often encountered when she first moved to Canada. The fact that people thought so little of her fueled her desire to be anything but small and meek.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Busy mothers had never been their bread and butter. They were too practical and too precious with their time. It was the young, child-free, and precariously employed who brought in the most money. They always wanted more. More glitter. More rhinestones. More pointy. More long. It was as if there was no limit to how much they could optimize themselves.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Thuy couldn’t stand cigarettes, the smell, the cancer-causing chemicals, the way they yellowed nails so badly that no amount of buffing could whip them back into a healthy-looking state.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Mrs. Ho looked like she should be at a charity gala clinking glasses with business elites, not here with people who believed gambling was a legitimate hobby. She even smelled important, her hair and skin giving off an accord of dark espresso and warm woods.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“It’s just… their mission is to help people improve their happiness and yet they’ve got people working eighty-hour weeks and burning out so bad they’re crying in the bathroom”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“Come to the opening. You’ll see what I’m talking about. It’s got everything that those other salons don’t have: modern decor, good hygiene practices, staff that can actually speak English, you know what I mean?”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails

“I don’t. You’re always telling me to speak more eloquently so please, my son, complete that sentence of yours.”
― Mai Nguyen, Sunshine Nails