22 Quotes by Gish Jen

He was not what he made up his mind to be. A man was the sum of his limits: freedom only made him see how much so. America was no America.

These are ideas that work for many, and that may well reflect your true understanding of life.

That there should be a purpose to suffering, that a person should be chosen for it, special – these are houses of the mind, in which whole peoples have found shelter.

For students who are in the most creative group in America to somehow be presumed to be narrow is just completely meshugga.

The independents are the ones who tend to commit suicide. I’m not against this way of being in the world. Individuals have brought us many treasures. You can’t just say that’s a bad way of being in the world – it’s not. But it’s not everyone’s way of being in the world.

When I think about why I would be a writer, why I should continue to be a writer, it seems to me one of the few things you can dowhere you’re never bored.

There’s nothing about interdependence that would keep somebody from making art.

I like to listen. I’m much more interested in listening than in speaking, for sure.

A white person was by definition somebody. Other people needed, across their hearts, one steel rib.