Ha Jin Quotes

• You strive to have a good heart. But what is a heart? Just a chunk of flesh that a dog can eat.

  Ha Jin

  Dog, Heart, Flesh

  FaceBook post by Ha Jin from Feb 17, 2017

  47 Copy quote

• Without writing, what would I have become? Nothing. In China the individual used to be treated as a screw or a small cog in the revolutionary machine. I wanted to be a human being with a voice.

  Ha Jin

  Writing, Voice, Cogs

  13 Copy quote

• Life is a journey, and you can't carry everything with you. Only the usable baggage.

  Ha Jin

  Journey, Baggage, Life Is A Journey

  20 Copy quote

• The more you move, the stronger you'll grow, not like a tree that can be killed if you uproot it.

  Ha Jin

  Moving, Tree, Stronger

  FaceBook post by Ha Jin from Jun 22, 2012

  17 Copy quote

• No, It's hard to uproot yourself and really become yourself in another soil, but it's also an opportunity, another kind of growth.

  Ha Jin

  Opportunity, Growth, Soil

  FaceBook post by Ha Jin from Oct 20, 2012

  13 Copy quote

• Indifference is the strongest contempt.

  Ha Jin

  Indifference, Contempt, Strongest

  Ha Jin (2009). “A Good Fall: Stories”, p.7, Vintage

  10 Copy quote

• Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.

  Ha Jin

  Summer, Divorce, Wife

  FaceBook post by Ha Jin from Feb 25, 2012

  14 Copy quote

• Writing is not a great profession as a lot of writers proclaim. I write because this is something I can do. Another thing—very often I think a lot of writers write because they have failed to do other things. How many writers can’t drive? A lot. They’re not practical. They are not capable in everyday life.

  Ha Jin

  Writing, Thinking, Everyday

  FaceBook post by Ha Jin from Dec 01, 2012

  10 Copy quote

• I don't think of myself as a dissident, and I'm more of an immigrant than an exile.

  Ha Jin

  Thinking, Exile, Immigrants

  9 Copy quote

• The more you move, the stronger you'll grow.

  Ha Jin

  Moving, Inspire, Stronger

  10 Copy quote

• When the first emperor wanted to unify the country, one of the major policies was to create one system of written signs. By force, brutal force, he eliminated all the other scripts. One script became the official script. All the others were banned. And those who used other scripts were punished severely. And then the meanings of all the characters, over the centuries, had to be kept uniform as a part of the political apparatus. So from the very beginning the written word was a powerful political tool.

  Ha Jin

  Country, Powerful, Character

  "Ha Jin, The Art of Fiction No. 202". Interview with Sarah Fay, www.theparisreview.org. 2009.

  10 Copy quote

• English has more flexibility. It's a very plastic, very shapeable, very expressive language. In that sense it feels quite natural.

  Ha Jin

  Language, Natural, Plastic

  "The iPad Needs Norman Mailer, and The Paris Review" by Lea Carpenter, bigthink.com.

  10 Copy quote

• I work hard, I work very hard. All the books at least 30 revisions.

  Ha Jin

  Book, Hard Work, Revision

  FaceBook post by Ha Jin from May 14, 2012

  9 Copy quote

• We can't continue to be like this. Who am I? Your fiancée or your concubine?

  Ha Jin

  Breakup, Concubines

  8 Copy quote

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