Lim Quotes

Seize the wind," I whispered. "Don't become the kite that never flies.

Pain doesn’t get easier. You just have to get stronger.

Find the light that makes your lantern shine,” she used to say. “Hold on to it, even when the dark surrounds you. Not even the strongest wind will blow out the flame.

I would tell you stories from dawn to dusk if it meant filling your eyes with happiness.

Fear is just a game, Shiori, I reminded myself. You win by playing.

I'd battled ghosts and touched the stars. I'd climbed a mountain to the moon and conquered the fury of the sun.

If fate is a bunch of strings, then I'll carry scissors. My choices are my own. I'll make them as I please.

Food feeds the belly, thoughts feed the mind, but love is what feeds the heart.

I will stay by your side until the fire in the sun grows cold and the light of the moon is no more. Until time blots out the stars.

I saw that you were perfect and I loved you. Then I saw that you were not perfect and I loved you even more.

I would not have you be alone, Lina, not in your joys or your sorrows. I would wish your strand knotted to mine, always.

You are my oath now, Maia Tamarin. And you'll never be free of me.

I don't keep mistresses; it's far too much trouble. I'm offering to marry you, although I might regret it. And if you think the Lim family disapproved of your marriage, wait until you meet mine.

All legends have a spark of truth. Sometimes more than a spark.

Above, the stars faded behind the misty sky, and the sun fanned its light upon us. We melted into each other until the dawn slid into dusk, and the sun paled into the moon, and the stars, once lost, became found again.

Your heart is your home. Until you understand that, you belong nowhere.

You are my daughter, not of my blood, but of my heart.

My only real solace? Sleep. In the absence of an explanation of anything, for everything, I live for it and what it can bring.

I knew then that we were like two pieces of cloth, sewn together for life. Our stitches couldn't be undone. I wouldn't let them.

When someone hurts you time and time again, accept the fact that they don't care about you. Its a tough pill to swallow, but its necessary medicine.

We angels are misconceived in the human world. People perceive us as kindly and bountiful; when, in truth, we are about as fluffy, as gentle, as yielding, as rattlesnakes.

I may have trust issues, but some people seem to have an issue with the responsibility of being trusted.

Learn from my mistakes, [...] and learn from my joys. Surround yourself with those who'll love you always, through your mistakes and your faults. Make a family that will find you more beautiful every day, even when your hair is white with age. Be the light that makes someone's lantern shine.

Brains can be bought, Hearts and Minds have to be Won

It was a tale of a boy, too. A boy who could fly but not swim. A boy with the powers of the gods but the shackles of a slave. A boy who loved me. It was a tale still being written.

I know that for every dawn, dusk must unravel its darkness.

To this day, cranes carry the strands of our fate. They say that each time two people’s paths cross, so do their strands. When they become important to one another or make a promise to one another, a knot is tied, connecting them.

Be the light that makes someone's lantern shine.

Sometimes finding the way is tricky, but you always do. As long as you don't give up.

A reputation is all it takes to spread fear. And fear is a mighty weapon.

Nearly two decades later, others would raise this question, would talk about books as mirrors and windows, and Ed Lim, tired by then, would find himself as frustrated as he was grateful. We’ve always known, he would think; what took you so long?

But a promise is a promise, not a kiss in the wind, to be thrown about without care. It is a piece of yourself that is given away and will not return until your pledge is fulfilled.

We are bound, remember? If you have no heart, I will give you half of mine. If you have no spirit, I will bind yours to mine.

No matter where life takes you, you will be like those stars - connected by the light you shine together.

But I would give up the sun and moon and stars if it meant saving him.

Find the light that makes your lantern shine," she used to say. "Hold on to it, even when the dark surrounds you. Not even the strongest wind will blow out the flame

We were like the sun and the moon, sharing the same stars and the same sky.

Find the light that makes your lantern shine. Hold on to it, even when the dark surrounds you. Not even the strongest wind will blow out the flame.

You're used to being underestimated, so you want to prove yourself. Don't let that be your crutch. Accept help when you need it.

I’ve seen many men dress as girls to evade serving in the army, but never any women who dressed as boys so they could serve.

I liked how he said my name. As if the syllables were the first notes to a song he loved to sing.

But hope was a valuable weapon, and we were sharpening its every edge.

If I get too comfortable, I will wake one morning and everything around me will have shifted overnight. All I knew? I know no longer. And all I had? Vanished in an instant. There’s nothing I can keep with me that will stay. I must always re-establish ties. I must tread carefulle or give myself away. I must survive. I must keep moving, but I don’t know why.

Was it worse to be a kite with no anchor, wandering lost on the wind, or a kite that didn't dare seize the wind and never flew?

You're my compass, remember? You're here to light my way in the darkness of this world.

If dying is this beautiful, then I wish I was a tree too. I'd be happy to die and be reborn in the spring.

You will hold the seams of our family together, Maia. No other tailor in the world can do that.

I want you to know that some journeys have ends, but not this one. This one will change you. Irrevocably." "Don't all journeys change you?" "It isn't the same." He leaned forward. "I, too, once journeyed beyond the stars." "What did you find?" His voice turned lethally soft. "That it's just the beginning.

What keeps you up at night?" I asked. "You're never in your tent." A cloud passed over his face. "Demons and ghosts." With a faint smile, he added, "And not having enough books to read.

Mistakes are proof that you are trying.

I was meant for magic, once,” Edan agreed, “but because of Maia, I am no longer the enchanter I was before. I am meant for her now. Her above all else.

I whirled around, but Edan was gone. I let out an exasperated sigh. Never had I met anyone so insufferably pleased with himself.

I am Fa Mulan, a girl who would sacrifice her life for her family and for China. I am a girl who journeyed into the Underworld to save her friend from dying. I am a girl who has fought battle after battle to finally recognize herself in the mirror. And now I do.

Now I saw in his eyes the richness of summer soil. His nose looked endearingly ruddy from being in the cold, and his voice was like a favorite song I never tired of hearing. Funny how he’d stolen his way into my heart when I’d been the thief the day we met.

People will see what they want to see.

Surround yourself with those who’ll love you always, through your mistakes and your faults. Make a family that will find you more beautiful every day, even when your hair is white with age. Be the light that makes someone’s lantern shine.

Whatever history remembered of us, whether it likened us to the sun and the moon - only permitted to meet once a year - or simply to a boy and a girl touched by the stars, fate had danced to bring us together.

Find the light that makes your lantern shine, " Mama would say. Now, more than ever, Kiki was that light.

I saw that you were perfect, and so I loved you. Then I saw that you were not perfect and I loved you even more

You'll learn that certain things aren't worth the trouble.

Supposing Catherine Lim was writing about me and not the prime minister...She would not dare, right? Because my posture, my response has been such that nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters and catch you in a cul de sac...Anybody who decides to take me on needs to put on knuckle dusters. If you think you can hurt me more than I can hurt you, try. There is no other way you can govern a Chinese society.

A sketchbook for a cloak? Hardly seems like a fair trade." "It's a magic sketchbook," Edan said, reaching for it. I rolled my eyes. "Really." "See, when you turn it upside down, sand falls out." Edan smiled widely as he caught the desert's golden grains in his palm. "Sand, sand, and more sand." "Oh, you!

Even chaos has its place.

Only rocks considered sitting still a virtue. Demons take me before I called it one of mine.

Never will I apologize for being the monster they made me.

That’s what sisters are for. My joys are your joys and your miseries are my miseries.

Butterflies celebrate all love, Channi, because every love is precious. And mine for you, above all. That love is forever.

She didn’t love me until the end. She loved you from the beginning.

If I just have one dance... even if it's by myself, I'll be happy. I just want to remember what it's like to be free, to spin round and round under the moonlight.

Women are always waiting on men- let it be the other way around for a change.

Now that I've found you again, Maia, I will never leave you. I will stay by your side until the fire in the sun grows cold and the light in the moon is no more. Until time blots out the stars.

You're interesting, for a human. When you look into the sea, think of me sometimes. "I will.

Women will always pay the price for love, that is why God makes us so much stronger than men.

sometimes the best self-care thing you can do for yourself is to not care.

All the riches and power in the world cannot buy someone who loves you truly. That’s the greatest treasure.

It was the tale of a boy, too. A boy who could fly but not swim. A boy with the powers of the gods but the shackles of a slave. A boy who loved me.

The more you worry about it, the less you'll be able to concentrate.

If my regrets and wishes were fireflies, the brilliance of their dance would turn night into day.

The sun was a brutal god. Brutal and merciless, he blinded those foolish enough to look at him.

I wish that one day someone will love me. Someone will look me in the eyes without fear or pity. Someone will take away the loneliness etched in my heart so that I will know what it’s like to be loved. So I can laugh without tasting the bitterness on my tongue once the sound fades.

I've missed the sound of you.

Anybody can become anything, so long as they put their minds to it.

I dread reaching the end of my story, for it is full of knots that I haven't had the courage to cut free.

I could of done a hundred things different, but it was too late now.

And this too, I will overcome

It’s not wandering if I know how to get home.

They say the belly had a better memory than the heart, and I must agree. Let us eat." his cane thumped the ground. "One cannot unravel a demon's curse on an empty stomach.

But I did worry about him. Now I understood the fatigue written on his brow, the hiding and evasive answers.

I must be drunk on moonlight to tell you this…but after I left you at Sparrow Inn, I…I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I didn’t know anything about you, and yet I had never met anyone so determined—or brazen. Not even Megari.” He laughed, then his expression turned serious once more. “Somehow, I knew I would see you again. It was as if I could feel our strands crossing. Yet when you came to Iro, you seemed different. Sadder, more withdrawn. I’d look for you in the kitchen as Pao and I walked around the castle. I wanted to make you smile.

Tôi là Bêtô. Tôi chưa bao giờ tự gọi tên tôi. Hôm nay là lần đầu và tôi ngạc nhiên nhận ra mình tự gọi tên mình rồi lim dim mắt lắng nghe cái âm thanh vừa thân thiết vừa bổng nhiên lạ lẫm đó ngân nga trong tai là một điều vô cùng thú vị. Nếu không tin bạn hãy thử gọi tên bạn một lần đi, bạn sẽ thấy lòng bạn nẩy mầm một cảm xúc gì đó như là sự trìu mến, nỗi hân hoan và niềm kiêu hãnh – cùng một lúc. Đó cũng là một trong vô vàn những điều thú vị mà cuộc sống cố tình giấu kín ở ngóc ngách nào đó trong tâm hồn của mỗi chúng ta theo cái cách các bậc cha mẹ vẫn giấu quà tặng con cái ở những nơi bất ngờ nhất trong nhà. Khám phá những điều thú vị đó, hay tìm thấy những món quà đó, chính là làm giàu thêm ý nghĩa của cuộc sống và bổ sung thêm lý do để cuộc sống trở nên đáng sống.

She gave off a little neigh when I reached to touch her cheek. I fell in love with her immediately. "You like her more than me," Edan pouted. "That's not hard to do." I petted her mane again; then offered Edan a small smile. "But thank you.

For what was chaos but a knife slashing across the fabric of destiny?

For what is life but a succession of change; of one thing after another; painful beginnings, fearful setting out into the unknown, leaving what we are for what we have not yet become. We sail forth boldly, keeping a steady keel and a keen eye on the horizon, to reach islands, land whose fragrance we sniff at at the edge of our dreams; and so we sail on, hoping that the next landfall will be our own bit of earth.

How about other books, Mrs. McCullough? Any other books with Chinese characters?" Mrs. McCullough bit her lip. "I haven't really looked for them," she admitted. "I hadn't thought about it." "I can save you some time," said Ed Lim. "There really aren't very many. So May Ling has no dolls that look like her, and no books with pictures of people that look like her." Ed Lim paced a few more steps. Nearly two decades later, others would raise these questions, would talk about books as mirrors and windows, and Ed Lim, tired by then, would find himself as frustrated as he was grateful. We've always known, he would think; what took you so long?

I can’t be responsible for losing you, the way I almost lost you tonight." The sense of vertigo is so bad now that Ryan seems fuzzy, as if I’m seeing him through a veil of light. ‘You’re already responsible,’ Ryan implores. ‘I’m a marked man. I could see it in his eyes when he looked at me. With you, or without you, I’m marked for death. And I’ll take my chances with you. In any life, given the same choice, I would choose you. Are you hearing me?

Ed Lim’s daughter, Monique, was a junior now, but as she’d grown up, he and his wife had noted with dismay that there were no dolls that looked like her. At ten, Monique had begun poring over a mail-order doll catalog as if it were a book–expensive dolls, with n ames and stories and historical outfits, absurdly detailed and even more absurdly expensive. ‘Jenny Cohen has this one,’ she’d told them, her finger tracing the outline of a blond doll that did indeed resemble Jenny Cohen: sweet faced with heavy bangs, slightly stocky. 'And they just made a new one with red hair. Her mom’s getting it for her sister Sarah for Hannukkah.’ Sarah Cohen had flaming red hair, the color of a penny in the summer sun. But there was no doll with black hair, let alone a face that looked anything like Monique’s. Ed Lim had gone to four different toy stores searching for a Chinese doll; he would have bought it for his daughter, whatever the price, but no such thing existed. He’d gone so far as to write to Mattel, asking them if there was a Chinese Barbie doll, and they’d replied that yes, they offered 'Oriental Barbie’ and sent him a pamphlet. He had looked at that pamphlet for a long time, at the Barbie’s strange mishmash of a costume, all red and gold satin and like nothing he’d ever seen on a Chinese or Japanese or Korean woman, at her waist-length black hair and slanted eyes. I am from Hong Kong, the pamphlet ran. It is in the Orient, or Far East. Throughout the Orient, people shop at outdoor marketplaces where goods such as fish, vegetables, silk, and spices are openly displayed. The year before, he and his wife and Monique had gone on a trip to Hong Kong, which struck him, mostly, as a pincushion of gleaming skyscrapers. In a giant, glassed-in shopping mall, he’d bought a dove-gray cashmere sweater that he wore under his suit jacket on chilly days. Come visit the Orient. I know you will find it exotic and interesting. In the end he’d thrown the pamphlet away. He’d heard, from friends with younger children, that the expensive doll line now had one Asian doll for sale – and a few black ones, too – but he’d never seen it. Monique was seventeen now, and had long outgrown dolls.

So I think that a protest,' she went on, 'like a work of dance or a work of music, is something done, at least in part, by the protestor for the protestor.' She saw I was about to interrupt so said, 'One more minute. Let me explain. Of course one hopes and plans for impact, for audience, for change, for efficacy. But, like dance, like music, a protest can be a religious ritual too, one that needn't be derisively looked down upon as magical thinking, but a spiritual act where the act itself is the goal. And that act may on some level be co-opted, but in the subjective world of the protestor it is a way, in itself, to be. Even in solipsism, the subject can be moral. You can call it hokum if you wish, but for the protestor, the protest makes a moral world in which she can abide.

Her reflection's hair was short, but she wore a simple violet robe tied at the waist with a blue sash. At her hip was her father's sword, and tucked in her hair- a blossom from their family's cherry tree. Mulan knelt and lowered her fingers to the glass. It rippled at her touch. "This one. This is me." A beat. Are you sure? asked the girl in the mirror. "Yes," said Mulan firmly. "It doesn't matter whether I'm a girl dressed like a bride, or a girl dressed like a soldier. I know my heart." Mulan flattened her hand against the glass, facing her reflection. Together, they said, "I am Fa Mulan, a girl who would sacrifice her life for her family and for China. I am a girl who journeyed into the Underworld to save her friend from dying. I am a girl who has fought battle after battle to finally recognize herself in the mirror. And now I do.

I’ve done you a disservice,” he said at last. “It’s only fair to let you know, but you won’t have a normal life span.” I bit my lip. “Have you come to take my soul, then?” “I told you that’s not my jurisdiction. But you’re not going to die soon. In fact, you won’t die for a long time, far longer than I initially thought, I’m afraid. Nor will you age normally.” “Because I took your qi?” He inclined his head. “I should have stopped you sooner.” I thought of the empty years that stretched ahead of me, years of solitude long after everyone I loved had died. Though I might have children or grandchildren. But perhaps they might comment on my strange youthfulness and shun me as unnatural. Whisper of sorcery, like those Javanese women who inserted gold needles in their faces and ate children. In the Chinese tradition, nothing was better than dying old and full of years, a treasure in the bosom of one’s family. To outlive descendants and endure a long span of widowhood could hardly be construed as lucky. Tears filled my eyes, and for some reason this seemed to agitate Er Lang, for he turned away. In profile, he was even more handsome, if that was possible, though I was quite sure he was aware of it. “It isn’t necessarily a good thing, but you’ll see all of the next century, and I think it will be an interesting one.” “That’s what Tian Bai said,” I said bitterly. “How long will I outlive him?” “Long enough,” he said. Then more gently, “You may have a happy marriage, though.” “I wasn’t thinking about him,” I said. “I was thinking about my mother. By the time I die, she’ll have long since gone on to the courts for reincarnation. I shall never see her again.” I burst into sobs, realizing how much I’d clung to that hope, despite the fact that it might be better for my mother to leave the Plains of the Dead. But then we would never meet in this lifetime. Her memories would be erased and her spirit lost to me in this form. “Don’t cry.” I felt his arms around me, and I buried my face in his chest. The rain began to fall again, so dense it was like a curtain around us. Yet I did not get wet. “Listen,” he said. “When everyone around you has died and it becomes too hard to go on pretending, I shall come for you.” “Do you mean that?” A strange happiness was beginning to grow, twining and tightening around my heart. “I’ve never lied to you.” “Can’t I go with you now?” He shook his head. “Aren’t you getting married? Besides, I’ve always preferred older women. In about fifty years’ time, you should be just right.” I glared at him. “What if I’d rather not wait?” He narrowed his eyes. “Do you mean that you don’t want to marry Tian Bai?” I dropped my gaze. “If you go with me, it won’t be easy for you,” he said warningly. “It will bring you closer to the spirit world and you won’t be able to lead a normal life. My work is incognito, so I can’t keep you in style. It will be a little house in some strange town. I shan’t be available most of the time, and you’d have to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.” I listened with increasing bewilderment. “Are you asking me to be your mistress or an indentured servant?” His mouth twitched. “I don’t keep mistresses; it’s far too much trouble. I’m offering to marry you, although I might regret it. And if you think the Lim family disapproved of your marriage, wait until you meet mine.” I tightened my arms around him. “Speechless at last,” Er Lang said. “Think about your options. Frankly, if I were a woman, I’d take the first one. I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of family.” “But what would you do for fifty years?” He was about to speak when I heard a faint call, and through the heavy downpour, saw Yan Hong’s blurred figure emerge between the trees, Tian Bai running beside her. “Give me your answer in a fortnight,” said Er Lang. Then he was gone.

You scare me, Ryan Daley. Even more than those demons outside that scream for my death. How is it that I want what you want? I’ve spent an eternity feeling powerless. Love did that to me — robbed me of all control. I never expected to feel this way again. I don’t want to feel.’ ‘Neither did I,’ Ryan rasps, ‘because feeling anything at all was dangerous. If I let myself feel, then maybe I’d have to believe what everyone was saying — that Lauren was dead. But from the moment I laid eyes on “Carmen, you kept getting under my skin. At first, all you did was irritate the hell out of me, bailing me up that way outside my house, inviting yourself along for the ride when all I wanted was to be left alone. But that irritation turned into curiosity, which turned into something else, becoming this chain of, of … feeling that brought me here. I dropped everything for you. I veered left. And I’d do it again in a second. That’s what “feeling” does. It tells you you’re alive, it gives things … I don’t know, proper meaning. You’re still trying to maintain some veneer of independence? Toughness? Do words like that even apply to you? But I see through it, Mercy. I see through you. You’re not that different from me after all, under your armour. Crumbs, Mercy, that’s all I’m after. Just crumbs. It’s not a lot to ask for.