"You must not tell anyone," my mother said, "what I am about to tell you." (First line, "No Name Woman") — Maxine Hong Kingston

From the fairy tales, I've learned exactly who the enemy are. I easily recognize them-business-suited in their modern American executive guise, each boss two feet taller than I am and impossible to meet eye to eye. (p48)

When we Chinese girls listened to the adults talk-story, we learned that we failed if we grew up to be but wives or slaves. We could be heroines, swordswomen. Even if she had to rage across all China, a swordswoman got even with anybody who hurt her family. Perhaps women were once so dangerous that they had to have their feet bound. (p19)

I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes. (p29)