Thanhha Quotes & Sayings

Why no s for two deer,
but an s for two monkeys?
Brother Quang says
no one knows.
So much for rules!
Whoever invented English should be bitten by a snake. — Thanhha Lai

Then she snapped her fingers and we were standing on Europa, discussing the possibility of extraterrestrial life beneath the moon's icy crust. I — Ernest Cline

Mother tells me,
They tease you
because they adore you. — Thanhha Lai

I tell you of loss, my child, so you will listen, slowly, and know that in life every emotion is fated to rear itself within your being. Don't judge it proper or ugly. It's simply there and yours. When you should happen to cry, then cry, knowing that just as easily you will laugh again and cry again. Your feelings will enter the currents of your core and there they shall remain — Thanhha Lai

No, Mr. Johnston doesn't have a horse, nor has he ever ridden one. What kind of a cowboy is he? — Thanhha Lai

Whoever invented English
should have learned
to spell. — Thanhha Lai

I am a man of many talents." I grinned, arranged my plate on the raised surface. "And apparently some of them don't require nudity." "Har-har. — Chloe Neill

Being stubborn won't make you fluent. Practicing will! The more mistakes you make, the more you'll learn not to. — Thanhha Lai

Mothers really were not built to raise babies not only by themselves, but with only a partner. For millions of years, a woman had much more than just her husband to help rear her young ... This whole idea of 'it takes a village to raise a child' is exactly how we're supposed to live. — Helen Fisher

I hate being told I can't do something because I'm a girl! — Thanhha Lai

I wish
our cowboy could be persuaded
to buy a horse,

that I could be invisible
until I can talk back — Thanhha Lai

Everyone knows the ship could sink, unable to hold the piles of bodies that keep crawling on like raging ants from a disrupted nest. But no one is heartless enough to say stop because what if they had been stopped before their turn? — Thanhha Lai

No one would believe me but at times I would choose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama.-Inside Out and Back Again — Thanhha Lai

People living on others' goodwill cannot afford political opinions. — Thanhha Lai

Our lives
will twist and twist,
intermingling the old and the new
until it doesn't matter
which is which. — Thanhha Lai

MiSSS SScott
points to the numbers
along the wall.
I count up to twenty.
The class claps
on its own.
I'm furious,
unable to explain
I already learned
fractions and how to purify water.
So this is what dumb feels like. I hate, hate,
hate it. — Thanhha Lai

I step back,
hating pity,
having learned
from Mother that
the pity giver
feels better,
never the pity receiver. — Thanhha Lai

All day
I practice
squeezing hisses
through my teeth.

Whoever invented
English
must have loved
snakes. — Thanhha Lai

Black seeds spill like clusters of eyes, wet and crying. — Thanhha Lai

How can we scramble away like rats, without honor, without dignity, when everyone must help rebuild the country? — Thanhha Lai

So Leola thought that a modest romance with a hero in embryo could do no harm - might even be a patriotic duty. — Robertson Davies

I thank God that I have lived to see my country independent and free. She may long enjoy her independence and freedom if she will. It depends on her virtue. — Samuel Adams

We glide and I feel as if I'm floating. — Thanhha Lai

Oh, my daughter,
at times you have to fight,
but preferably
not with your fists. — Thanhha Lai

Neither Western donor countries like the U.S. nor poor recipients like Cameroon care much about Africans who are poor, rural and female. — Nicholas D. Kristof

There's a good chance that you might be inspired by ideas that originate outside of yourself. — David Byrne

I'm trying to tell
MiSSSisss WaSShington
about our ceremony for Father.
But it takes time to
match every noun and verb,
sort all the tenses,
remember all the articles,
set the tone for every s.
MiSSSisss WaSShington says
if every learner waits
to speak perfectly,
no one would learn
a new language.
Being stubborn
won't make you fluent.
Practicing will!
The more mistakes you make,
the more you'll learn not to.
They laugh. — Thanhha Lai

A lot of truths about the living world are recorded in bad books; they are just badly written about. — Joseph Roth

Mostly, I wish I were still smart. — Thanhha Lai

The citizen's job is to be rude - to pierce the comfort of professional intercourse by boorish expressions of doubt. — John Ralston Saul

The Doctor: This is bad, I don't like this. [kicks console and yells in pain] Never use force, you just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, in which case ... always use force!
Amy: Shall I run and get the manual?
The Doctor: I threw it in a supernova.
Amy: You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?
The Doctor: Because I disagreed with it! Now stop talking to me when I'm cross! — Steven Moffat

Do not waste ... Don't waste the vegetable-washing water, splash it on the grapefruit tree instead ... Don't waste anything made of glass or plastic because glass and plastic can be reused ad nauseam ... Don't waste ... a string for retying, a rubber band for conquering dry noodles or hair, rice bags for dishcloths, fish bones for fertilizer ... Anything that comes out of the earth must be returned to the earth ... "If everyone uses more than their share, how can the earth support us?" — Thanhha Lai

As long as I keep moving, I should be OK. As long as I keep the notebook with me, I should stay alive. This is not what I thought life would be like when I turned sweet sixteen. — T.M. Goeglein

You and I have a connection that nothing, not on heaven or earth, or even hell, could ever break. If you want to talk to me, talk to me. I'll hear you ... — Cynthia Hand

Mother warns
how we act today
foretells the whole year — Thanhha Lai

This year I hope
I truly learn
to fly-kick
not to kick anyone
so much as
to fly. — Thanhha Lai

I tell you of my loss, child, so you will listen, slowly, and know that in life every emotion is fated to rear itself within your being. Don't judge it proper or ugly. It's simply there and yours. — Thanhha Lai

My curse: rebellious in my head but oh-so-lovely in real life. — Thanhha Lai

Would be simpler
if English
and life
were logical — Thanhha Lai

Mother says,
People share
when they know they have escaped hunger.
Shouldn't people share
because there is hunger? — Thanhha Lai