Chang Quotes & Sayings

Chang Tzu tells us of a persevering man who after three laborious years mastered the art of dragon-slaying. For the rest of his days, he had not a single opportunity to test his skills. — Jorge Luis Borges

Boredom was as exhausting as backbreaking labor. — Jung Chang

It's because of the way you are. It's why you're happy reading novels. You're only comfortable with a piece of the world that you can hold in your hand. — Lan Samantha Chang

My parents - my mother, particularly - were very focused on our succeeding. I loved my parents, and was very grateful to them for everything, and I didn't want to disappoint them. — Chang-rae Lee

There is secrecy and betrayal but that's more part and parcel of the kind of anguish that the people go through. And maybe that's modes of survival, rather than modes of consciousness. — Chang-rae Lee

Sometimes people with strong ideology, whether left-wing or right-wing, refuse to do something simply because they believe it is wrong, when doing it actually benefits them. For some people, it's not just about money and political power. — Ha-Joon Chang

The Japanese are a disease of the skin ... the Communists are a disease of the heart. Everything personal was political ... Two reds sandwiching a black ... — Jung Chang

We have hopes and make plans, and if they are dashed or waylaid, we naturally rationalize and redraw the map to locate ourselves anew. Or else we brood and too firmly root. Very few can step forward again and again in what amounts to veritable leaps into the void, where there are no ready holds, where little is familiar, where you get constantly stuck in the thickets of your uncertainties and fears. — Chang-rae Lee

I definitely have favorite books by favorite poets, but poets' books also vary. I could like some books, but not like another book. — Victoria Chang

I've read a lot more than most of the people that I know, except for one of my really close friends reads way more than I do. — Victoria Chang

Every time she went home she found herself being criticized. She was accused of being "too attached to her family," which was condemned as a "bourgeois habit," and had to see less and less of her own mother. — Jung Chang

I'm very lucky, coming from a great school. — Katie Chang

Once you open your heart, you will start to absorb many things that come from the source - from Tao itself. — Henry Chang

As someone from a developing country, I have a problem with rich countries thinking they can tell us anything, simply because they are giving money. — Ha-Joon Chang

What has marked Chinese society is its level of cruelty, not just revolutions and wars. We ought to reject it totally, otherwise in another upheaval there will be further cruelty. — Jung Chang

As the Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel warned years ago, to forget a holocaust is to kill twice. — Iris Chang

Our first big mistake - we believed that money was rational. Andrew — Jade Chang

Tzu Chang asked Confucius about jen. Confucius said, "If you can practice these five things with all the people, you can be called jen."
Tzu Chang asked what they were.
Confucius said, "Courtesy, generosity, honesty, persistence, and kindness.
If you are courteous, you will not be disrespected;
if you are generous, you will gain everything.
If you are honest, people will rely on you.
If you are persistent you will get results.
If you are kind, you can employ people. — Confucius

If I could change a single thing about my life,' she said gently, 'I would not have been so unhappy when I was young. — Lan Samantha Chang

I rarely talk about work with writers, and I love getting together with writers. I think writers are great to get together with, because we can talk about everything. I think that's why I enjoy it. Writers tend to be pretty open-minded, and pretty profane and loose. They have fun minds. — Chang-rae Lee

It's just a weird idea to me because each book is a complete universe unto itself, so why would I want this other universe from this other galaxy that has nothing to do with mine? That's how I really feel about it. Let's be honest - I'm still the writer, so certain things will be common denominators. But that I just want to keep natural and not studied. — Chang-rae Lee

Our universe might have slid into equilibrium emitting nothing more than a quiet hiss. The fact that it spawned such plenitude is a miracle, one that is matched only by your universe giving rise to you. — Ted Chang

Indelible, our last clues to a beautiful woman — Chang-rae Lee

There is a big logical jump between acknowledging the destructive nature of hyperinflation and arguing that the lower the rate of inflation, the better. — Ha-Joon Chang

Our lives are short and everything sort of regresses to the mean. — Victoria Chang

Yet although Sony believed that the transition from CRTs to flat panels was inevitable, it did not invest in production facilities for PDPs or LCDs because it believed such an investment was strategically unwise. In other words, it was a deliberate strategic choice - not a legacy problem - not to invest in flat panel displays. — Sea-Jin Chang

It's hard to write a war story without thinking about the 'Iliad.' Because the 'Iliad' knows everything about war. — Chang-rae Lee

If people think you are this amazing, own it. — David Chang

In New York, we're always confined with spaces. Our restaurants are difficult to navigate as cooks and to operate. We fight against the buildings we run in New York. — David Chang

It turns out that we are one, if not ever how we expected.
And it cannot matter that outwardly nothing has changed yet. Maybe we don't even expect it to ... We may not soon be heeded, but at least we can feel the long-held rumbles, now open-throated, our lungs warmed and aching with this special use that we know may be poignant only to us. There was so little of this voicing before, and now that there is much more, we see it takes as many forms as there are people, though some don't easily align. — Chang-rae Lee

My life in general, orderly or not, it allows me more freedom in my own writing. Sometimes I wonder, though - I have friends that sit around and just write all day. And I think it's the coolest thing. — Victoria Chang

As I published books, I realized, that's not really what I want. I don't care about the books as much anymore. I just want to write poetry. — Victoria Chang

I don't mind solitude. I love talking to other people, but I do need my space. — Iris Chang

Hi, well soon return you to the dyslexic production of Bitty Bitty Chang Chang ... — Colin Mochrie

I feel like I give myself all day long to other people and other things, and I still seem like I have something to write once in awhile. Not often, though. — Victoria Chang

Patent monopoly creates a lot of problems. It allows the patentee to charge the maximum to consumers. This may not be a problem if the patented product is a luxury item, like parts that go into a smartphone, but can violate basic human rights if it involves things such as life-saving drugs. — Ha-Joon Chang

But let's suppose another way of considering her, which was that she had a special conviction of imagination. Few of us do, to be honest. We wish and wish and often with fury but never very deeply. For if we did, we'd see how the world can sometimes split open, in just the way we hope. That it and we are, in fact, unbounded. Free. — Chang-rae Lee

I'm always criticizing and only see the mistakes. — David Chang

I'm not an anti-capitalist, or anarchist. I want capitalism to work. — Ha-Joon Chang

Poverty drove their parents to have them castrated as young children, hoping they would earn a better living at court. Usually the father would take the boy to a specialist castrator, who operated by the appointment of the court. After a contract was signed, absolving the castrator from any responsibility in case of death or failure (both highly likely outcomes), the unimaginably painful operation was performed. The castrator's fee was huge and had to be paid from future earnings. — Jung Chang

I love the intensity of the fine-dining kitchen, but loathe the fine-dining experience. — David Chang

The constant cry is that you belong here, or you make yourself belong, or you must go. (1998: 319) — Chang-rae Lee

Father is close, Mother is close, but neither is as close as Chairman Mao. — Jung Chang

Be careful what you wish for - getting to be a successful business and maintaining it is so hard. Anyone can be good one night; being good over several years is incredibly difficult. — David Chang

Over the years of the Cultural Revolution, I was to witness people being attacked for saying "thank you" too often, which was branded as "bourgeois hypocrisy"; courtesy was on the brink of extinction. — Jung Chang

All of the Spaniards are really talented. I don't know what they eat. — Michael Chang

The Chinese seemed to be mourning Mao in a heartfelt fashion. But I wondered how many of their tears were genuine. People had practiced acting to such a degree that they confused it with their true feelings. — Jung Chang

Life is an extravagant gown, riddled with lice. — Eileen Chang

Obviously loss of family is huge and critical, but I think really it's more about losing a sense of family. The horror of that kind of incompleteness. Writing this book, I tried not to think about my father, which does no one any good fictionally. I did try to imagine not just the horror of that moment, but the horror of having witnessed it, and the lifelong void. And I think that's what's so frightening. — Chang-rae Lee

The past, as you suggest, is absolutely present at all times and the present is born from the past. I wouldn't want to suggest that the past determines the present. — Chang-rae Lee

He's now letting Chang play his own game - and he does that better than anyone. — Christine Truman

We need to transcend our thoughts and desires to truly understand philosophy and the universe as a whole. However, in our everyday life, we deal with the micro universe and with our own affairs. Therefore we need to use our brain. To practice Tao is not to rid yourself of all thoughts. There are actually more occasions when you would use your true intention instead of non-desire. — Henry Chang

The Roman politician and philosopher Cicero once said: 'Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge. — Ha-Joon Chang

In spring 1989 ... I saw the buildup of demonstrations from Chengdu to Tiananmen Square. It struck me that fear had been forgotten to such an extent that few of the millions of demonstrators perceived danger. Most seemed to be taken by surprise when the army opened fire. — Jung Chang

In the tennis world, there weren't a whole lot of Asians playing. You see it a little bit more now. The same can really be said for basketball. — Michael Chang

Her father was one of those tall, angular, self-embalming types. All balls and liver. His kind predated the notion of alcoholism. Groton, Princeton, Harvard Business School. His neatly clipped silver hair and tailored suits and unmitigating stare of eyes and trim old body said it all over in a simple, clear language: Chief Executive Officer. Do not fuck with this man. — Chang-rae Lee

It is inconceivable that our mind does not change according to where we might be, and how we perceived in it. — Tsan-Kuo Chang

I didn't have the ability to blow people off the court, so I needed my legs, my preparation and the ability to think on my feet. — Michael Chang

To be honest, I'm not that much of a reader of Korean fiction, since so little is translated. — Chang-rae Lee

In no country does the average income give the right picture of how people live but in a country with higher inequality it is likely to be particularly misleading. Given that the US has by far the most unequal distribution of income among the rich countries, we can safely guess that the US per capita income overstates the actual living standards of more of its citizens than in other countries ... The much higher crime rate than in Europe or Japan
in per capita terms, the US has eight times more people in prison than Europe and twelve times more than Japan
shows that there is a far bigger underclass in the US. — Ha-Joon Chang

There's the common misconception that restaurants make a lot of money. It's not true. If you look at maybe the top chef in the world, or at least monetarily, it's like Wolfgang Puck, but he makes as much money as an average crappy investment banker. — David Chang

I don't believe complete assimilation is possible, at least not for anyone who has an active, open mind. Every step, every entry into the flows of existence can be seen as a beginning, a commencement of a brand new way of seeing oneself in the world. This is the case for everyone. — Chang-rae Lee

For it is through humility, he knew, that holiness
and poetry
find entrance to the human soul. — Lan Samantha Chang

I like all kinds of music - classical, pop, rock, electronic. — Ha-Joon Chang

In America, he said, it's even hard to stay Korean. — Chang-rae Lee

Democracy and markets are both fundamental building blocks for a decent society. But they clash at a fundamental level. We need to balance them. — Ha-Joon Chang

Like most people, I'm fascinated by characters who are completely flawed personalities, riven by anguish and doubt, and are psychologically suspect. — Chang-rae Lee

We have to keep in mind that it's not just about the numbers of people who died; it's also the manner which many of these victims met their deaths. — Iris Chang

Contemporary ramen is totally different than what most Americans think ramen should be. Ramen is not one thing; there are many, many different types. — David Chang

I realize that I'm in the twilight of my career. — Michael Chang

For me, at the French Open, if I wasn't playing my match I was glued to CNN watching the events unfold. — Michael Chang

There isn't much discussion of ruling class in America even in Boston, probably one of the most class-conscious cities in the country? — Iris Chang

I've read quite a few readers' reviews of my book on Amazon, saying, 'Ah, he criticises the free market, he advocates central planning.' I don't do that for a minute! But this is our black and white, dichotomous way of thinking - which has really been harmful. — Ha-Joon Chang

It's not that I don't enjoy other people, but what I find with writers is this back and forth. And also, there's no need to talk about work. — Chang-rae Lee

He said you could tell about a person not from what he believed, but by what worried him. — Chang-rae Lee

My perception of making a movie before I started making movies was that it would be like 'Spy Kids'. — Katie Chang

It is hard to believe, but the phrase 'workshop of the world' was originally coined for Britain, which today, according to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has 'no industry'. Having successfully launched the Industrial Revolution before other countries, Britain became such a dominant industrial power by the mid nineteenth century that it felt confident enough to completely liberalize its trade (see Thing 7). In 1860, it produced 20 per cent of world manufacturing output. In 1870, it accounted for 46 per cent of world trade in manufactured goods. The current Chinese share in world exports is only around 17 per cent (as of 2007), even though 'everything' seems to be made in China, so you can imagine the extent of British dominance then. — Ha-Joon Chang

Whatever is not commonly seen is condemned as alien. — Iris Chang

According to tradition, my great-grandfather married early, at 14, with a woman six years older. It was considered to be one of the duties of the wife to raise her husband. — Jung Chang

Time eateth all things, could old poets say, The times are chang'd, our times drink all away. — Benjamin Franklin

I think because of these big issues of life and death that maybe sex feels like a crass question. But for Christ sake, this is a book that is so interested in an elemental human condition. And one of the ideas about surrender is an erotic surrender, too. These folks are surrendered by destiny; they surrender to each other in certain moments, but there is a lot of erotic surrender. — Chang-rae Lee

Overcoming the myth that there is such a thing as an objectively defined 'free market' is the first step towards understanding capitalism. — Ha-Joon Chang

It's in the tilting and thrashing that we wangle our luck. — Chang-rae Lee

He held up a hand. "You've come perilously close to being written up for insubordination, Lieutenant. I expect better control from you, and have rarely had the need to remind you of it."
"Yes, sir."
"Moreover, I find myself insulted both on a personal and professional level that you assumed I had or would approve an asinine schedule that pulls you off a priority."
"I apologize, Commander, and can only offer the weak excuse that any and all contact with Lee Chang results in my temporary insanity."
"Understood." Whitney turned the disc over in his hand. "It surprises me, Dallas, that you didn't shove this down his throat."
"Actually, sir, I had another orifice in mind."
His lips quirked, just slightly. Then he snapped the disc in two, just as she had.
"Thank you, Commander."
"Let's get this damn circus over with, so we can both get back to work. — J.D. Robb

Culture, like food, is necessary to sustain us. It molds us and shapes our relations to each other. An inequitable culture is one in which people do not have the same power to create, access, or circulate their practices, works, ideas and stories. It is one in which people cannot represent themselves equally. To say that American culture in inequitable is to say that it moves us away from seeing each other in our full humanity. It is to say that the culture does not paint a more just society. — Jeff Chang

I think e-mail and social media and all that has made me feel way less isolated than ever before. — Victoria Chang

Manufacturing is the most important ... route to prosperity. — Ha-Joon Chang

The one reason why I got into cooking was because I wasn't good at anything else - not that I was good at it, but it was considered honest work. — David Chang

Sometimes I feel like I'm on top of the world, and other mornings I feel like crap. — Victoria Chang

Gone are the days when the upper classes were terrified of the angry mob wanting to smash their skulls and confiscate their properties. Now their biggest enemy is the army of lazy bums, whose lifestyle of indolence and hedonism, financed by crippling taxes on the rich, is sucking the lifeblood out of the economy. — Ha-Joon Chang

You can work really hard, but if you're not training in the right way you're not going to improve and get to the level that you want to. — Michael Chang

At the age of fifteen my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general. — Jung Chang

Chef Thomas Keller was an inspiration to me and many, many young cooks like me. He told us that the role of the new, modern chef is different. — David Chang

So spake the Enemie of Mankind, enclos'd In Serpent, Inmate bad, and toward EVE Address'd his way, not with indented wave, Prone on the ground, as since, but on his reare, Circular base of rising foulds, that tour'd Fould above fould a surging Maze, his Head Crested aloft, and Carbuncle his Eyes; With burnisht Neck of verdant Gold, erect Amidst his circling Spires, that on the grass Floted redundant: pleasing was his shape, And lovely, never since of Serpent kind Lovelier, not those that in ILLYRIA chang'd HERMIONE and CADMUS, or the God In EPIDAURUS; nor — John Milton

The future of desegregation was not just about reaching mere numerical diversity. It was about fostering radical diversity, the wild protean sort. It was about what might flower when people could really meet across the lines. The cover of the fifth volume of the Yardbird Reader, rendered in day-bright Oakland A's yellow and green, featured the collective caught as they laughed at someone's wisecrack. They looked simultaneously hip and welcoming. In this colorized vision of American renewal, everyone could share in the joy. — Jeff Chang

When you take something extremely broad, then it is not a work of expansion or work of compression. It's hard because you have to decide what to throw out. — Iris Chang

We arrived the way most emigrant families did. My father came first, and the rest of us - my mother, my sister and me - followed a year later. — Chang-rae Lee

I spent three and a half years writing the novel 'Chang & Eng,' about the conjoined brothers for whom the term 'Siamese twins' was contrived, and when I think of these afflicted people, my only emotion is one of profound sympathy. — Darin Strauss

Now I've gotten to know more about the industry. And now that I'm over 18, I can work without my parents on set. That was nice and helped me get comfortable. — Katie Chang

I'm a B+ student of life. — Chang-rae Lee