Gail Tsukiyama Quotes

Sometimes you can’t let go of the past without facing it again.

Mothers and their children are in a category all their own. There's no bond so strong in the entire world. No love so instantaneous and forgiving.

Even a snail will eventually reach its destination.

Everything seems simpler from a distance.

Beauty exists where you least expect to find it.

It is not an act of bravery to try to save your own village. It is an instinct to protect what you possess. Bravery is when you step in to help when you have nothing to lose.

But how will I know it's my destiny?' 'Like love it will possess you... You can't help but know.

The eyes mirror the heart of a person. An entire life can be seen through them. Love, sorrow, deceit, pain. If you look closely, it’s all there.

Don’t ever think that just because you do things differently, you’re wrong.

It takes greater courage to live.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what words are said or unsaid. . . .Life’s mistakes are made whether you can see them or not. What counts is how we learn to live with them.

Just remember, Every day of your lives, you must always be sure what you’re fighting for.

To read and write will help you understand life. . .to sew and mend will help you survive it.

When you're young, you can excuse many things, hoping they will strengthen with time.

Do you think a champion is made out of thin air? It’s through the hardships you endure that you’ll gain real strength.

...life is not just from within, it extends all around you, whether you wish it to or not.

We can’t run away from what defines our fates. Who we are and what we believe in grow from the roots of our past, no matter how much we might try to deny it.

Sometimes things don’t work out as they’re planned, and there have to be sacrifices in order to make things better again.

To have strength without knowing how to use it means nothing.

Nothing ever stands still, and neither should you.

Success is not handed to you. You must work hard for it and you must never dishonor what you’ve achieved.

We live a short enough time on this earth. A man should do what he loves.

What wars really destroyed were families.

Sometimes the house is so quiet I feel like the only noise that fills my mind is what I've created myself. Remembered conversations come back to me as if my friends and family were right here in the room.

Just remember that life is made up of change. We can’t run away from it.

The garden is a world filled with secrets. Slowly, I see more each day. The black pines twist and turn to form graceful shapes, while the moss is a carpet of green that invites you to sit by the pond. Even the stone lanterns, which dimly light the way at night, allow you to see only so much.

Don’t you think every face tells its own story? Like a book? More like a poem. If you study it long enough, you’ll soon find its meaning.

To be noble,. . .was to account for the life you lived, to always account for your mistakes, and to have dignity and worth.

Wei cleared his throat and said, “Have you heard the saying `The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher’? It seems I’ve been the pitcher most of my life. I’ve forgotten how to be fluid. It feels as if I’m finally learning now,” he said.

We’re stepping into a new world, and an entire way of thinking must be changed. But the old ideas can’t be easily discarded. Like a pendulum, new ways must swing to the other side before returning.

Fear seems to be the ruling judge.

...I learned that beauty exists where you least expect to find it.

When the water boiled, Michiko poured it into the pot of green leaves and we both waited in the thick silence. I felt strangely calmed by this simple ritual I had seen my mother do many hundred times before. It was all that seemed to make sense in this place and I held on to it as if I were drowning.

Grief was an opponent he would never be able to defeat.

Just don’t ever think you deserve to be beaten.

Even if you walk the same road a hundred times, you’ll find something different each time.

Perhaps the dull ache I'm feeling comes from letting go, the realization that some memories should be left as just that, a moment in time when the fruits of life are at their sweetest.

Matsu gathered up what little was left of the food and wrapped it back up in the furoshiki. 'I followed you and the others down to the beach yesterday morning. I wondered if you might try to find your way to peace as she did.' 'I couldn't,' I began to cry, turning away in shame. Then Matsu leaned over close to my ear. He smelled of sweat and the earth as he whispered, 'It takes greater courage to live.

The things you remember about a person when they're gone are funny. No two people will feel the same way, though usually it has to do with scent, or expression, the sound of a voice, an unusual gesture. For me, I can still see the colors of Keiko; the black of her hair against creamy pale skin, her dark blue kimono with white circles, the deep orange persimmons falling from the brown basket she carried. The ache in my heart grows larger every time I think of these colors, and how as each day passes they continue to fade from my eyes.

Matsu once told me the bridge represented the samurai’s difficult path from this world to the afterlife. When you reach the top of the bridge, you can see your way to paradise. I feel as if the past few days have given me a glimpse of that. To simply live a life without fear has been a true paradise.

It was like a bad dream with only one saving grace: my family thought I was dead. I suddenly felt lighter, relieved of the burden that had been placed on me as a living person. Yet, there was still someone who knew I existed, which made me feel like a real person again, not a ghost roaming the earth.

Near the gardens, Pei stopped and caught her breath. She liked sweet-voiced Song Lee and hoped for the best in dealing with the other sisters, but Pei rememered all too well the different personalities that had affected her life, first at the girls' house, then at the silk factory and sisters' house. Dealing with so many people was often like playing a game of chess. There were so many pieces, all moving in different directions. It was always wise to guard all sides against capture.

Please, Matsu-san,' I told him, not long after the house was completed. 'I don't wish to have any flowers.' "Never once did he question me. I needed my life to be simple without any beauty to remind me of all I had lost. And though I had not told him that, Matsu must have seen it in my eyes. 'Don't worry, Sachi,' he said, 'there will be no flowers.

It's harder than I imagined, to be alone. I suppose I might get used to it, like an empty canvas you slowly begin to fill.

It takes the same amount of energy to worry about the worst thing that can happen as it does to hope for the best. It's up to you to choose.

...we can't hide from it, we are all touched by the madness of it.

Nothing ever stands still,” she told them. “And neither should you.

He seemed to have a story no one had bothered to discover

It is not an act of bravery to try to save your own village. It is an instinct to protect what you possess. Bravery is when you step in to help when you have nothing to lose.

I won't say we human beings still don't have much to learn. Sometimes we love and hate without thought. We expect too much from one another, and often we are wrong.

Sometimes I felt like I would go insane not having the answers to such simple questions. Of course, it was always hardest during the night, then the darkness stole away any signs of hope.

Sometimes I felt like I would go insane not having the answers to such simple questions. Of course, it was always hardest during the night, when the darkness stole away any signs of hope.

Every so often I was overwhelmed by a phantom pain that cut through me like a knife. I was certain that if I looked down I would find blood all over, like the knife I once held in my hands, but it was all in my mind.

I won’t say we human beings still don’t have much to learn. Sometimes we love and hate without thought. We expect too much from one another, and often we are wrong. Take that flower,” he said, pointing to the crepe myrtle. “It has a short life span, but you know just what to expect of it. The leaves are turning yellow-orange, so you know within a week they’ll fall. Fortunately—or unfortunately—we human beings have much longer lives. And that makes for many more complications. But in the end, Stephen-san, you can only look back, hoping everything that happens in your life is for a purpose.

I wanted to say something back to him, and I knew deep down that he was right, though I didn't have the words yet. Until that disease chose me, I had lived a charmed life of grace and ease, while Matsu had always to work hard for what he desired. He has always known where beauty comes from. Later on, when the disease spread over the left side of my face, I tried to accept the burden placed on me, to tell myself that real beauty comes from deep within. But I'm afraid sometimes I reverted back to my spoiled ways. But, Stephen-san, can you imagine what it was like to watch your own face slowly transformed into a monster? Have you ever awakened in the morning from a series of nightmares, fearing what you might have turned into during the night? I will not lie to you and tell you that it was easy. There were times when I thought I could actually feel my skin shrinking, pulling against my bones and muscles, slowly suffocating me. Matsu comforted me as much as he could by having me work on the house, or in the garden, but no matter how much pleasure I found in them, they were still cold and inanimate. I longed for my past life. Matsu always knew that the peace of mine I needed could only be found within myself.

He showed me that life is not just from within, it extends all around you, wether you wish it to or not. And so, this garden became a part of my life. The Samari’s Garden

You mustn't forget: who we are is a reflection of where we come from.

Lately, it seemed the air between us was so thick with struggle at home I felt like I was suffocating.

It's harder than I imagined, to be alone. I supposed I might get used to it, like an empty canvas you slowly begin to fill.

haven’t been able

In the end, the body betrayed everyone.

In my dreams I hear their voices, those young boys who were already cruel when they chased me through the schoolyard yelling, Chink, Chink, Chinabug. It's no wonder that so many of them have grown up to be the kind of men they are. Their voices may have deepened, their hair thinned or turned gray, their bellies softened and grown larger, but their hearts and minds remain as hard as stone, impenetrable. They are still those small-minded boys who tormented me. To them, I'll always be foreign--a porcelain China doll, or a fire-breathing dragon lady, neither of which belongs in their world. I had such high hopes for them. I thought they might know better as grown-ups and realize that there are more ways than one to view the world.

No one spoke, The host, the guest, The white chrysanthemums. -Ryōta

After Laura leaves, I pick up the recorder on the nightstand and play a short melody Howard once taught me. “It’s basically just six notes repeated,” he told me. “The simple power of music.”...... ...”Then I listen in the darkness for the familiar sounds, knowing everything has changed.

I knew the sense of integrity I had long admired in him had died, and that I was already grieving for its loss.

If you have too much good luck when you are young,” Mah-mee said, “there won’t be any luck left for when you are old.

It’s harder than I imagined, to be alone.

Japan is like a young woman who thinks too much of herself. She’s bound to get herself into trouble.

life is not just from within, it extends all around you, whether you wish it to or not.

sometimes you must cut away something in order to make it grow back stronger?

sitting in the garden. In it, life seemed to have stopped, and a separate life contained itself in its beauty.

Like love, it will possess you, Hiro-chan,” she said. “You can’t help but know.

Perhaps things happen to help us learn about ourselves.

I learned that beauty exists where you least expect to find it.

The greatest honor I could have given my family was that of my death, and I ran from it. I was frightened at not fulfilling my obligation, not giving ko to my parents. Yet, there was a voice inside of me that kept telling me to escape

Don't ever think that just because you do things differently, you're wrong.

Ah yes, now Yoshio remembered the last myth. Three foxes together foretold disaster. And here they were, like three foxes trapped in a hole with disaster just above them.

Haru looked at the devastation around her. I see a world covered in grey ash. I see a world covered in grey ash with flecks of white bone. I see a world covered in grey ash with flecks of white bone of all those who will never rise again.

Only once have I had the courage to ask Matsu what he felt about his country's victories in China. He was in the kitchen reading a magazine, as his radio blared from his room. He looked up at me and simply said, "Japan is like a young woman who thinks too much of herself. She's bound to get herself into trouble.

Then she turned and pointed to Matsu's newly built wooden bridge. It was an exact replica of the original, its ascending and descending curves forming a perfect arch. "Matsu once told me the bridge represented the samurai's difficult path from this world to the afterlife. When you reach the top of the bridge, you can see your way to paradise. I feel as if the past few days have given me a glimpse of that. To simply live a life without fear has been a true paradise.

I couldn’t get over how easily she had stepped into our lives, settling in like another summer flower in the garden.

The madness of war destroyed much more than just the soldiers fighting in it. It picked apart everything in its way, so that no one escaped its clutches.

You have to choose what you keep and what you let go of in life.

Only then did he realize that Hawai'i remained an enduring spirit that had seeped into his body and flowed through his veins. "Might not be a fancy big city, yeah, but home comes from within," his mother reminded him when he first left for the mainland.

She would rather live her own life of mah-jongg games, while pretending all those starving in the streets are invisible.