“Spiritual yearning is the homesickness of the soul.”

“Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak.”

“Compassion is the religion of the heart.”

“When you plant a seed of love, it is you that blossoms.”

“I will not let a political party tell me how to live, when to die or what to believe in. Our souls are linked to the universe, but we can never see heaven, because our flesh ties us to the earth and the people around us. But when the people around you have lost their will to be free, then earth becomes a hell.”

“Everything I was I carry with me, everything I will be lies waiting on the road ahead.”

“My mind flashed back to the Cultural Revolution, when a group of Red Guards pulled our neighbor, Granny Li, out of the opera company’s dormitory block and ordered the rest of us to bring out our thermos flasks. We then had to stand and watch as the Red Guards poured ten flasks of boiling water over Granny Li’s head.”