“You may be desperate, but never let anyone see you as anything less than a cultivated woman.”

“Anyone who tells you that the Yao people never care for their daughters is lying. We may be worthless. We may be raised for another family. But often we are loved and cherished, despite our natal families' best efforts not to have feelings for us.”

“When you don’t have much, having less isn’t so bad.”

“Seeing something once is better than hearing about it a hundred times. Doing something once is better than seeing it a hundred times.”

“You can always count on people to crowded your party when you’re in glory but you should never dream of people sending you charcoal in the cold.”

“Our words had to be circumspect. We could not write anything too negative about our circumstances. This was tricky, since the very form of a married woman's letter needed to include the usual complaints -- that we were pathetic, powerless, worked to the bone, homesick, and sad. We were supposed to speak directly about our feelings without appearing ungrateful, no-account, or unfilial.”

“When in the world did anyone die from a dream?”