#om

I was intelligent enough to make up my own mind. I not only had freedom of choice, I had freedom of expression. ↗

— Amy Tan

#enough #expression #freedom #freedom of expression #had

I also thought of playing improvisational jazz and I did take lessons for a while. At first I tried to write fiction by making up things that were completely alien to my life. ↗

— Amy Tan

#also #completely #did #fiction #first

I loved fairy tales when I was a kid. Grimm. The grimmer the better. I loved gruesome gothic tales and, in that respect, I liked Bible stories, because to me they were very gothic. ↗

— Amy Tan

#better #bible #fairy #fairy tales #gothic

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

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

— Amy Tan

#circumstances #else #gives #keep #nobody

People think it's a terrible tragedy when somebody has Alzheimer's. But in my mother's case, it's different. My mother has been unhappy all her life. For the first time in her life, she's happy. ↗

— Amy Tan

#been #case #different #first #first time

She said 'I'm by commission. You don't have to pay anything until you sell anything.' I said, 'Well fine. You want to be my agent and not make anything.' I thought, 'Boy, is she dumb.' ↗

— Amy Tan

#anything #boy #commission #dumb #fine

That was a wonderful period in my life. I mean, I didn't become an artist, but somebody let me do something I loved. What a luxury, to do something you love to do. ↗

— Amy Tan

#become #i #life #love #loved

You write a book and you hope somebody will go out and pay $24.95 for what you've just said. I think books were my salvation. Books saved me from being miserable. ↗

— Amy Tan

#book #books #go #hope #i