Mah Quotes & Sayings

Revenge is not worthy of you. If you concentrate on revenge, you will keep those wounds fresh that would otherwise have healed. — Adeline Yen Mah

Spread the gift. Teach someone to play Mah Jongg! — Mary Anne Puleio

Don't trust anyone. Be a cold fish. I hurt no one. And no one can hurt me. — Adeline Yen Mah

Keep in mind that whenever you are in a crisis, you are in the midst of danger as well as oportunity. — Adeline Yen Mah

Is there room in that Mah Jongg game for me too?! — Mary Anne Puleio

Transcend your abuse and transform it into a source of courage, creativity and compassion. — Adeline Yen Mah

I often think of life as a deposit of time. We are each allocated so many years, just like a fixed sum in a bank. When twenty-four hours have passed I have spent one more day. I read in the People's Daily that the average life expectancy for a Chinese woman is seventy-two. I am already seventy-four years old. I spent all my deposits two years ago and am on bonus time. Every day is already a gift. What is there to complain of? — Adeline Yen Mah

The future belongs to you. Should anyone insult you, tell yourself this: I am a child of destiny who will unite East and West and change the world. — Adeline Yen Mah

Listen, ah don't wanna speak ill of the dead but have ah told you that mah mother was a great whopping whale of a cunt? Well she was precisely that - a great whopping whale of a hog's cunt with a dirty maggot for a brain. — Nick Cave

Day after day, anxiety spun its web around my thoughts and spread to all corners of my heart. — Adeline Yen Mah

That's exactly what I'll do, I thought to myself. After dinner, I'm going to ask Big
Brother to teach me how to read this map. With Aunt Baba still in Tianjin, there's
obviously nobody looking out for me. I'll just have to find my own way. — Adeline Yen Mah

He would say her name over and over until it devolved into meaningless sounds - mah REI kuh, mah REI kuh - it became an entry in a dictionary of loneliness. — Audrey Niffenegger

Then I got this image of my big toe, painted bright red, suddenly developing a face and a hot Southern temper to match, screaming, What the hell is wrong with mah bad self? — Jennifer Rardin

Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons. — Zora Neale Hurston

So of course that was the moment my motherboard decided to do a short internal scan, throw up its hands, and screech, "Dear Lawd, a VAMPIRE has taken mah blood!" and initiate a general shutdown. — Jennifer Rardin

Being the commander of a Ruminarii war vessel meant that he had risen to the rank by means of assassination and ruthlessness and was therefore implicitly distrusted by the Tidhii Mah'k'hai (Naval Command, that is The Queen Of Suth Herself.) He was expected to mete out, in generous portions, brutality to conquered subjects and to act swiftly and mercilessly in dealing with alien encounters. In short, he was expected to be a bad example. — Christina Engela

Alcenith Crawford (a divorced ophthalmologist): We women doctors have un-happy marriages because in our minds we are the superstars of our families. Having survived the hardship of medical school we expect to reap our rewards at home. We had to assert ourselves against all odds and when we finally graduate there are few shrinking violets amongst us. It takes a special man to be able to cope. Men like to feel important and be the undisputed head of the family. A man does not enjoy waiting for his wife while she performs life-saving operations. He expects her and their children to revolve around his needs, not the other way. But we have become accustomed to giving orders in hospitals and having them obeyed. Once home, it's difficult to adjust. Moreover, we often earn more than our husbands. It takes a generous and exceptional man to forgive all that. — Adeline Yen Mah

Can you hold a red-hot iron rod in your hand merely because some one wants you to do so? Then, will it be right on your part to ask others to do the same thing just to satisfy your desires? If you cannot tolerate infliction of pain on your body or mind by others' words and actions, what right have you to do the same to others through your words and deeds?
Do unto others as you would like to be done by. Injury or violence done by you to any life in any form, animal or human, is as harmful as it would e if caused to your own self. — Mahavira

Blah, blah, blah. Demon boy, I can't speak that language. Furthermore, I don't want to pollute my brain by learning it. So it's time for you to learn mine. First lesson-I'm Say-been. I'm oft described as byoo-tee-full and mah-jest'ick. — Kresley Cole

Never get involved. That's my motto. I hurt no one. And no one can hurt me. — Adeline Yen Mah

Now, with no hate group to run, Jerry spent his days playing Mah-jong on his computer — Louis Theroux

To celebrate his prosperity, fellow employees and friends urged him to take a young concubine to "serve him". Even Ye Ye's boss, the London-educated K. C. Li, jokingly volunteered to "give" him a couple of girls with his bonus. Ye Ye reported all this in a matter-of-fact way in a letter to his wife, adding touchingly that he was a "one-woman man". — Adeline Yen Mah

Need a fourth?' he asked, earning himself a set of strangely satisfying startled glances. The only way the moment might have been better would be if El had taught Marty the game. But that had been his grandfather, years and years ago. The white-haired man smiled. 'You know how to play?'

'I'd need a card.'

'Card?' Then understanding dawned on the white-haired man's face. He shook his head. Again, he looked kind. 'Ah. Of course. Jew Mah Jongg. Entirely different game.'

His companions were nodding, too. The guy with the belt buckle said, 'Completely different. Very frustrating. So few ways to win. So many to lose.'

Yet again, Marty felt tears well in his eyes. His uncle's absence seeping in. 'Yep,' he said. 'Sounds like a Jewish game, alright.'

("Shomer") — Glen Hirshberg

You might be addicted to Mah Jongg if... you're allowed only one carry-on and you choose your Mah Jongg bag! — Mary Anne Puleio

Everytime Ah see uh patch uh roses uh somethin' oversportin' theyselves makin' out they pretty, Ah tell 'em 'Ah want yuh tuh see mah Janie sometime.' You must let de flowers see yuh sometimes, heah, Janie? — Zora Neale Hurston

Where are we? (Jericho)
Noir's happy place. It's where he brings the beings he wants to play with. (Asmodeus)
Punish. (Jericho)
You say ta-mah-to. I say to-mah-to. (Asmodeus) — Sherrilyn Kenyon

If all the lawyers were hanged tomorrow, and their bones were sold to a mah jong factory, we'd all be freer and safer, and our taxes would be reduced by almost a half. — H.L. Mencken

Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin' on high, but they wasn't no pulpit for me. Freedom found me wid a baby daughter in mah arms, so Ah said Ah'd take a broom and a cook-pot and throw up a highway through de wilderness for her. She would expound what Ah felt. But somehow she got lost offa de highway and next thing Ah knowed here you was in de world. — Zora Neale Hurston

If Mr Mah is unable to defend himself, he deserves to lose. No country in the world has given its citizens an asset as valuable as what we've given every family here. And if you say that policy is at fault, you must be daft." - when asked about a Straits Times report that cited keen opposition interest in contesting Tampines GRC, which National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan helms, so that they can raise the affordability of public housing as an election issue — Lee Kuan Yew

Naw, Ah ain't no young gal no mo' but den Ah ain't no old woman neither. Ah reckon Ah looks mah age too. But Ah'm uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat's uh whole lot more'n you kin say. You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but 'tain't nothin' to it but yo' big voice. Humph! Talkin' 'bout me lookin' old! When you pull down yo' britches, you look lak de change uh life. — Zora Neale Hurston

mawage 'mah-'wahge. 1; a bwessed awangement 2; a dweam wifin a dweam - T-SHIRT — Darynda Jones

I knew that I was the least-loved child because I was a girl and because my mother had died giving birth to me. — Adeline Yen Mah

Emmanuel Twinning, on the other hand, was gentle and very old, and made his own suits out of hospital blankets, and lived nearby with a horse.
Emmanuel and the skewbald had much in common, including the use of the kitchen, and one saw their grey heads, almost any evening, poking together out of the window. The old man himself, when seen alone, seemed to inhabit unearthly regions, so blue and remote that the girls used to sing:
O come, O come, E-mah-ah-ah-new-el!
An' ransom captive Is-rah-ah-ah-el! ...
At this he would nod and smile gently upon us, moving his lips to the hymn. He
was so very old, so far and strange, I never doubted that the hymn was his. He wore sky-blue blankets, and his name was Emmanuel; it was easy to think he was God. — Laurie Lee

People with yuan fen are destined to like one another;
Friendship develops even if a thousand miles apart.
But should yuan fen be absent between two individuals,
They will remain strangers despite sitting face-to-face — Adeline Yen Mah

The way I see it, the nineteenth century was a British century. The twenthieth century is an American century. I predict that the twenty-first century will be a Chinese century. The pendulum of history will swing from the ying ashes brought by the Cultural Revolution to the yang pheonix arising from its wreckage.
Aunt Baba, pg 226. Year 1979 — Adeline Yen Mah

Sleeping with another girl does not always mean you are a lesbian, sometimes it just means the central heating needs fixing — Amy Mah

There was no experience, I thought, quite as wonderful as being an American in Paris. — Ann Mah

I Don't sparkle ........I Bite !!! — Amy Mah

Though life has to be lived forward, it can only be understood backwards — Adeline Yen Mah

In American mah jongg there are five different categories of tiles: Suit tiles, Dragon tiles, Wind tiles, Flower tiles, and Joker tiles - 152 tiles in all. — Elaine Sandberg

It was an aspiring neighbourhood that retained a faint edge of slum, typical of Shanghai. Pensioners in Mao-era padded jackets would sit on doorsteps playing mah-jong, oblivious to the Prada-clad girls sweeping past on their way to work. — Hyeonseo Lee

But you can vanquish the demons only when you yourself are convinced of your own worth. — Adeline Yen Mah

There are very few persons who would think of inquiring into the private life of the newspaper dealer at the corner, or the druggist, or the doctor, or even a Mah Jong partner, but the moment one belongs to the theatrical profession, the public usually feels cheated unless it knows one's inmost thoughts of love. — Marie Dressler

Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me. — Zora Neale Hurston

I like What Goes Around Comes Around for old concert tees. Oh man, I got this 'Sgt. Pepper' cartoon Beatles shirt there; it was, like, $300. I didn't even know how much it cost - I thought it was gonna be, like, $80 at most - till I got to the register and was like, 'Oh mah gawd!' Good Lord. But it's classic vintage rock, you know? — Kid Cudi

Never spoke of it. He took the miracle to his grave. All Andrew ever said about the voyage was that a nun had taught him how to play mah-jongg. Something must have happened during one of their games. — John Irving

Suen Le! (it means, "Let it be. — Adeline Yen Mah

For Americans war is almost all of the time a nuisance, and military skill is a luxury like Mah-Jongg. But when the issue is brought home to them, war becomes as important, for the necessary period, as business or sport. And it is hard to decide which is likely to be the more ominous for the Axis
an American decision that this is sport, or that it is business. — D. W Brogan

A man is seated on top of a tree in the midst of a burning forest. He sees all living beings perish. But he doesn't realize that the same fate is soon to overtake him also. That man is fool. — Mahavira

It you taste nice I may bite! — Amy Mah

Remember, the best cure for worry is to do something positive. That's because fear is endless and formless, whereas even the worst outcome has an ending. — Adeline Yen Mah

Amy! Sit correctly, you are wearing a dress ... feet on the floor and your knees together girl ... You are trying to catch a husband, not flies ! — Amy Mah

'Thirteen Orphans' is the name of a specific limit hand. The same combination is also called 'Thirteen Improbable.' Once I'd decided I wanted to write a tale where mah-jong would be at the heart, I also knew I wanted to use limit hands. — Jane Lindskold

If people don't wish to be eaten then they shouldn't taste so nice — Amy Mah

You may be right in believing that if you study hard, one day you might become fluent in English. But you will still look Chinese, and when people meet you, they'll see a Chinese girl no matter how well you speak English. You'll always be expected to know Chinese, and if you don't, I'm afraid they will not respect you as much. — Adeline Yen Mah

Yes you can let a guy bite you but not on the first date! he has to pay for dinner ! But you can bite him on the first date at no cost that is quite normal — Amy Mah

Why, Tea Cake? Whut good do combin' mah hair do you? It's mah comfortable, not yourn." "It's mine too. Ah ain't been sleepin' so good for more'n uh week cause Ah been wishin' so bad tuh git mah hands in yo' hair. It's so pretty. It feels jus' lak underneath uh dove's wing next to mah face. — Zora Neale Hurston

Chris asks, "What are you going to stick to?"
"Mah guns, boy, mah guns," I tell him. "That's the Code of the West. — Robert M. Pirsig

Quickly pretended disappointment. We hailed a taxi and squeezed in with all our luggage. Aunt Reine — Adeline Yen Mah

My turner Mah'Lor is with me forever as well. At least his head is. — Daven Anderson

Please believe that one single positive dream is more important than a thousand negative realities. — Adeline Yen Mah

Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think. — Zora Neale Hurston

And I know why our friendship must be kept a secret. Or they will kill You like they killed You in the Bible. And then we could not be together. If not for them we would live in this valley together. As best friends. But we must be careful, Jesus. I think I would die if anything happened to You ... ' - she cried ah think, for ah could hear her little sobs as she spoke - ' ... just close my eyes and die.' And she let fall a heavy tear, and it passed through the slats and exploded upon mah face, just below the right cheek. And as the droplet began to roll, ah caught it with mah tongue. And ah was shocked momentarily by that tear's sweetness, having known them only as bitter things - only bitter things - always bitter things. — Nick Cave

I read because I have to. It drives everything else from my mind. It lets me escape to find other world. — Adeline Yen Mah

Create your own destiny! — Adeline Yen Mah

Hollywood wouldn't suit me. In L.A. it's all about work - studio people have their five minutes with you and they go, 'Oh mah Gahd, I love your movie.' You just feel very self-conscious there. — Eva Green

Going from Army base to base as a kid taught me to be a man of all nations. I'd go to the Jewish people and say, 'Shalom, brother.' I go to the Muslim people and say, 'Salaam aleikum.'I go to the Chinese people and say, 'Nee hao mah,' which means, 'How you doin'?' I go to the Japanese people and say, 'Konnichiwa.' I go to San Antonio, Texas, and I get along with Mexicans. Then I go to Louisiana and hang with the Creoles. Moving around a lot made me a man of all people. — Shaquille O'Neal

She was bedridden falling a fall which broke her hip. X-rays showed that she had cancer of the colon which had already spreed. To my surprise I found her cheerful and free of pain, perhaps because of the small doses of morphine she was being given. She was surrounded by neighbours and friends who congregated at her bedside day and night. In this cosy, noisy, gregarious world of the "all-chinese" sickbed, so different from the stark, sterile solitude of the American hospital room, her life had assumed the astounding quality of a continuous farewell party. — Adeline Yen Mah

No matter what else people may steal from you, they will never be able to take away your knowledge. — Adeline Yen Mah

At the age of three my grand aunt proclaimed her independence by categorically refusing to have her feet bound, resolutely tearing off the bandages as fast as they were applied. — Adeline Yen Mah