Ha Jin Quotes & Sayings

He sat down in a corner and ordered half a pound of dumplings, which came in a white bowl with a blue rim. While he was eating, his memory was further revived and sharpened by the familiar taste of the stuffing, made of pork, leeks, cabbage, dried shrimp, ginger, sesame oil. Every bit of the memory became unmistakable now. — Ha Jin

Liya's letter threw her parents — Ha Jin

I would even argue that, for many displaced people, nostalgia is also blended with fear - the fear of uncertainty and of facing the challenges posed by the larger world and the fear of the absence of the clarity and confidence provided by the past. In essence, nostalgia is associated mostly with the experience of a particular type of migrants, namely, exiles. — Ha Jin

You said, 'Life is a tragedy, but its meaning lies in how we face the tragedy. — Ha Jin

Indifference is the strongest contempt. — Ha Jin

I work hard, I work very hard. All the books at least 30 revisions. — Ha Jin

At home you could depend on your parents, but in America you are on your own and should make as many friends as you can . . . You don't know who may hold out a helpful hand in your hour of need. — Ha Jin

When the first emperor wanted to unify the country, one of the major policies was to create one system of written signs. By force, brutal force, he eliminated all the other scripts. One script became the official script. All the others were banned. And those who used other scripts were punished severely. And then the meanings of all the characters, over the centuries, had to be kept uniform as a part of the political apparatus. So from the very beginning the written word was a powerful political tool. — Ha Jin

I don't think of myself as a dissident, and I'm more of an immigrant than an exile, — Ha Jin

No, It's hard to uproot yourself and really become yourself in another soil, but it's also an opportunity, another kind of growth. — Ha Jin

In short, he must be loyal only to his art. — Ha Jin

A good marriage was full of moments of cats and dogs. It was the uneventful marriage that was headed toward disaster. In a word, the differences between the husband and the wife should only help stabilize their marriage. — Ha Jin

Life is a journey, and you can't carry everything with you. Only the usable baggage. — Ha Jin

You strive to have a good heart. But what is a heart? Just a chunk of flesh that a dog can eat. — Ha Jin

Once you've done it with him, he won't abandon you. If he really loves you, if he's a man with a heart, he'll follow you wherever you go. If he doesn't, he isn't the man you want, is he? — Ha Jin

Writing is not a great profession as a lot of writers proclaim. I write because this is something I can do. Another thing - very often I think a lot of writers write because they have failed to do other things. How many writers can't drive? A lot. They're not practical. They are not capable in everyday life. — Ha Jin

Where should he go? He wanted to find a building out of which he could jump and kill himself. How about the temple? No, it only had two stories. Too low. How about the elementary school? No, his ghost might frighten the children if he died there, and people would condemn him. — Ha Jin

To witness is to make the truth known, but we must remember that most victims have no voice of their own, and that in bearing witness to their stories we must not appropriate them. — Ha Jin

We ate away, reminiscing about our victories over the enemies from different streets and villages and competing with each other in casting curses. A few golden butterflies and dragonflies were fluttering around us. The afternoon air was warm and clean, and the town below us seemed like a green harbor full of white sails. — Ha Jin

It dawned on him that he had never loved a woman wholeheartedly and that he had always been the loved one. This must have been the reason why he knew so little about love and women. In other words, emotionally he hadn't grown up. His instinct and ability to love passionately had withered away before they had had an opportunity to blossom. If only he had fallen in love soulfully just once in his life, even though it might have broken his heart, paralyzed his mind, made him live in a daze, bathed his face in tears, and frowned him in despair! — Ha Jin

Without writing, what would I have become? Nothing. In China the individual used to be treated as a screw or a small cog in the revolutionary machine. I wanted to be a human being with a voice. — Ha Jin

Without answering, he pulled the comforter over his head. If only he could sleep a few days in a row. He felt sorry for himself and sick of everything. — Ha Jin

Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu. — Ha Jin

The more you move, the stronger you'll grow, not like a tree that can be killed if you uproot it. — Ha Jin

But most good writers are Don Quixote at heart, and unreasonableness is often a condition of art. — Ha Jin

English has more flexibility. It's a very plastic, very shapeable, very expressive language. In that sense it feels quite natural. — Ha Jin