Amy Tan Fate Quotes & Sayings

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. — Amy Tan

We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming - well, that's like saying you can never change your fate. — Amy Tan

If you can't change your fate, change your attitude. — Amy Tan

It was our fate and our natures, flawed and wounded, that brought us together - Violet Minturn — Amy Tan

When you are told, "It was meant to be," ask, "Who meant it? What does it really mean?" Is someone trying to make you accept an undesirable situation or one in which you have doubts? When you are told, "Shit happens," remember that plenty of other things happen as well, such as generosity, forgiveness, ambiguity, and uncertainty. When you are told, "It's simply fate," ask yourself, "What is simple about it? What are the alternatives of fate? What is fate's opposite? — Amy Tan

Fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention. — Amy Tan

Since I'm not dead yet I can talk back. — Amy Tan

I discovered that maybe it was fate all along, that faith was just an illusion that somehow you're in control. — Amy Tan

Believe me, daughter, there is nothing worse than having your own family member out for revenge. — Amy Tan

And I think now that fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention. But somehow, when you lose something you love, faith takes over.
-Rose — Amy Tan

I'm not saying fate happens without blame. but when fate turns out well, everyone should forget the bad road that got us here. — Amy Tan

Fate changes when you change your clothes. — Amy Tan

Fate once made you American. Fate took it away. — Amy Tan

This was not chance that they met twice, my mother would tell me whenever she recounted this story. It was fate. — Amy Tan

And in my family, there were two pillars of beliefs: Christian faith on my father's side, Chinese fate on my mother's. Picture these two ideologies as you might the goalposts of a soccer field, faith at one end, fate at the other, and me running between them trying to duck whatever dangerous missile had been launched in the air. — Amy Tan

There's no hope. There's no reason to keep trying.
Because you must. This is not hope. Not reason. This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do. — Amy Tan

I know how it is to live your life like a dream. To listen and watch, to wake up and try to understand what has already happened.
You do not need a psychiatrist to do this. A psychiatrist does not want you to wake up. He tells you to dream some more, to find the pond and pour more tears into it. And really, he is just another bird drinking from your misery.
My mother, she suffered. She lost her face and tried to hind it. She found only greater misery and finally could not hide that. There is nothing more to understand. that was China. That was what people did back then. They had no choice. they could not speak up. they could not run away. That was their fate. — Amy Tan

Everyone must dream. We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming - well, that's like saying you can never change your fate. Isn't that true? — Amy Tan

I think now that fate is half shaped by expectation, half by inattention. But somehow, when you lose something you love, faith takes over. You have to pay attention to what you lost. You have to undo the expectation. — Amy Tan