Amy Tan

I started a second novel seven times and I had to throw them away. ↗

— Amy Tan

#had #i #novel #second #seven

I think I've always been somebody, since the deaths of my father and brother, who was afraid to hope. So, I was more prepared for failure and for rejection than for success. ↗

— Amy Tan

#always #been #brother #deaths #failure

I thought I was clever enough to write as well as these people and I didn't realize that there is something called originality and your own voice. ↗

— Amy Tan

#clever #enough #i #originality #own

I would still like to have that luxury, to be able to just sit and draw for hours and hours and hours. In a way, that's what I do as a writer. ↗

— Amy Tan

#draw #hours #i #i do #just

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

— Amy Tan

#circumstances #else #gives #keep #nobody

My mother had a very difficult childhood, having seen her own mother kill herself. So she didn't always know how to be the nurturing mother that we all expect we should have. ↗

— Amy Tan

#childhood #difficult #expect #had #having

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. ↗

— Amy Tan

#age #almost #also #day #eight

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

— Amy Tan

#expected #get #had #high #high expectations

My parents told me I would become a doctor and then in my spare time I would become a concert pianist. So, both my day job and my spare time were sort of taken care of. ↗

— Amy Tan

#both #care #concert #concert pianist #day

No one in my family was a reader of literary fiction. So, I didn't have encouragement, but I didn't have discouragement, because I don't think anybody knew what that meant. ↗

— Amy Tan

#because #discouragement #encouragement #family #fiction