“Being angry is to punish oneself for others' mistakes; however, I am not the one who should be punished.”

“Although citizens of the same country who spoke the same language, they belonged to two different worlds. These worlds were far apart and their chances of meeting slim. But an encounter that happens against such long odds is bound to produce stories.”

“Two months in Shanghai, and what does she have to show for herself? She had been full of plans on the plane ride over, had studied her phrase book as if cramming for an exam, had been determined to refine her computational model with a new set of data, expecting insights and breakthroughs, plotting notes for a new article. Only the time has trickled away so quickly. She has meandered through the days chatting with James instead of gathering data. At night, she has gone out to dinners and bars. [James'] Chinese has not improved; her computational model has barely been touched. She does not know what she has been doing with herself, and now an airplane six days away is waiting for her.”

“Setiap orang bertanggung jawab atas pilihannya sendiri. Orang yang menyalahkan orang lain atas pilihannya hanyalah pengecut yang hanya bisa lari dari tanggung jawab.”

“Mungkin aja lo pikir, anak-anak dari keluarga miskin itu menderita. Tapi siapa tahu, mereka justru lebih bahagia daripada kita karena mereka nggak terikat materi.”

“I deserve no punishment at all for being who I am.”

“A god of kindness would be charitable to all. Your god of wrath and punishment is but a monstrous phantasy...It is not necessary that one should humble oneself to deserve assistance, it is sufficient that one should suffer.”