The Joy Luck Club Quotes

Quote 1: "Over the years, she told me the same story, except for the ending, which grew darker, casting long shadows into her life, and eventually into mine." Chapter 1, pg. 21

Quote 2: "Your father is not my first husband. You are not those babies." Chapter 1, pg. 26

Quote 3: "Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain." Chapter 2, pg. 48

Quote 4: "I was no longer scared. I could see what was inside me." Chapter 3, pg. 59

Quote 5: "After the gold was removed from my body I felt lighter, more free. They say this is what happens if you lack metal. You begin to think as an independent person." Chapter 3, pg. 63

Quote 6: "For woman is yin, the darkness within, where untempered passions lie. And man is yang, bright truth lighting our minds." Chapter 4, pg. 81

Quote 7: "Why do you have to use me to show off? If you want to show off, then why don't you learn to play chess." Chapter 5, pg. 99

Quote 8: "This house was built too steep, and a bad wind from the top blows all your strength back down the hill. So you can never get ahead. You are always rolling backward." Chapter 6, pg. 109

Quote 9: "I discovered that maybe it was fate all along, that faith was just an illusion that somehow you're in control." Chapter 7, pg. 121

Quote 10: "My mother had a look on her face that I'll never forget. It was one of complete despair and horror, for losing Bing, for being so foolish as to think she could use faith to change fate." Chapter 7, pg. 130

Quote 11: "I had new thoughts, willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with lots of won'ts. I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not." Chapter 8, pg. 134

Quote 12: "I was determined to put a stop to her foolish pride." Chapter 8, pg. 138

Quote 13: "Only two kind of daughters. Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!" Chapter 8, pg. 142

Quote 14: "I began to look at all events and all things as relevant, an opportunity to take or avoid." Chapter 9, pg. 152

Quote 15: "And I remember wondering why it was that eating something good could make me feel so terrible, while vomiting something terrible could make me feel so good." Chapter 8, pg. 154

Quote 16: "Now that I'm angry at Harold, it's hard to remember what was so remarkable about him." Chapter 9, pg. 155

Quote 17: "You are busy. You want to live like mess what can I say?" Chapter 10, pg. 169

Quote 18: "I saw what I had been fighting for: it was for me, a scared child..." Chapter 10, pg. 183

Quote 19: "And below the heimongmong, all along the ground, were weeds already spilling out over the edges, running wild in every direction." Chapter 11, pg. 196

Quote 20: "True, cannot teach style. June not sophisticate like you. Must be born this way." Chapter 12, pg. 206

Quote 21: "That was the night, in the kitchen, that I realized I was no better than who I was....And I no longer felt angry at Waverly. I felt tired and foolish, as if I had been running to escape someone chasing me, only to look behind and discover there was no one there." Chapter 12, pg. 207

Quote 22: "Then you must teach my daughter this same lesson. How to lose your innocence but not your hope. How to laugh forever." Book 4, pg. 213

Quote 23: "to not listen to something meaningless calling to me." Chapter 13, pg. 226

Quote 24: : "on the third day after someone dies, the soul comes back to settle scores. In my mother's case, this would be the first day of the lunar new year. And because it is the new year, all debts must be paid, or disaster and misfortune will follow." Chapter 13, pg. 240

Quote 25: "I have always known a thing before it happens." Chapter 14, pg. 243

Quote 26: "It is because I had so much joy that I came to have so much hate." Chapter 14, pg. 247

Quote 27: "I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these things do not mix?" Chapter 15, pg. 254

Quote 28: "Why are you attracted only to Chinese nonsense?" Chapter 15, pg. 259

Quote 29: "Look at this face. Do you see my foolish hope?" Chapter 16, pg. 283

Quote 30: "And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood." Chapter 16, pg. 288