Maxine Hong Kingston quotes

The sweat of hard work is not to be displayed. It is much more graceful to appear favored by the gods. (Maxine Hong Kingston)
To me success means effectiveness in the world, that I am able to carry my ideas and values into the world - that I am able to change it in positive ways. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
The difference between mad people and sane people... is that sane people have variety when they talk-story. Mad people have only one story that they talk over and over. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
Hunger also changes the world - when eating can't be a habit, then neither can seeing. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
In a time of destruction, create something. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
Do the right thing by whoever crosses your path. Those coincidental people are your people. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
I think that individual voices are not as strong as a community of voices. If we can make a community of voices, then we can speak more truth. Also in a community, we learn to listen... View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
It seems that writing chose me. I feel that because I know history, and I know the history of so many cultures; I have lived a large life. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
When I'm teaching, I tell my students: It's all process. Don't even think of product. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
I'm so proud that my offspring became a musician. I'm full of awe that we are able to have a whole family live the life of artists. (Maxine Hong Kingston)
There can't be a pure myth, especially when the myth has been handed down in the oral tradition. As the stories are told, they change. If the stories don't change they just die. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
Let my life as Poet begin. I want the life of the Poet. I have labored for over twelve years, one thousand pages of prose. Now, I want the easiness of poetry. The brevity of the poem. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
What does old look like? Sometimes I am wrinkled, sometimes not. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
When I am composing, I try to clear my mind of having to publish, or having to sell a book or find readers. That kind of thinking gets in the way. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
We're all under the same sky and walk the same earth; we're alive together during the same moment. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
I've been writing since I was 7, but before that, I was orally making stories. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
You can't eat straight A's. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
You're too young to decide to live forever. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
Remember when the narrator is bullying the other girl? She says to her, "Just say ‘ow.' Just say anything, just make a sound.” I guess that's the first step: make a sound. I think for everybody that just being able to speak up is a bravery, which they have to learn. But for a writer, it's to be able to find a style and a rhythm and a structure to be able to tell a story. I think that is another way of finding voice, and it's not that easy.... View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston
I feel that it's part of my work as an artist, a creator, a human being, is to integrate and to be more inclusive and to define American as large and not as exclusive. (Maxine Hong Kingston)
I think that in order to recognize a warm-hearted human being, you have to be a warm-hearted human being yourself. View quote
Maxine Hong Kingston