Shan Sa Quotes

• The moon in all her immaculate purity hung in the sky, laughing at this world of dust. She congratulated me for my carefully considered maneuvers and invited me to share in her eternal solitude.

  Shan Sa

  Moon, Dust, Sky

  47 Copy quote

• Endless moons, an opaque universe, thunder, tornadoes, the quaking earth. Rare moments of peace; forehead up against my knees, arms around my head, I though, I listened, I longed not to exist. but life was there, a transparent pearl, a star revolving slowly on its own axis.

  Shan Sa

  Stars, Moon, Axes

  Shan Sa (2009). “Empress: A Novel”, p.8, Harper Collins

  16 Copy quote

• Happiness is something you lay siege to, it is a battle like a game of go. I will take hold of all the pain and snuff it out.

  Shan Sa

  Pain, Games, Battle

  "The Girl Who Played Go: A Novel". Book by Shan Sa, www.washingtonpost.com. 2007.

  4 Copy quote

• I succeeded in using my charms like a weapon; I learned to play with other's hearts and to master my own desires.

  Shan Sa

  Heart, Play, Desire

  4 Copy quote

• Dying is so simple. A fleeting moment of suffering. In the blink of an eye you are over the threshold, into another world. No more pain, no more fears. You sleep so well there. Dying is like rubbing snow together, setting fire to a whole winter of cold and ice.

  Shan Sa

  Pain, Sleep, Eye

  10 Copy quote

• I would like to be a philosopher in ancient Athens and a poet in ancient China.

  Shan Sa

  Athens, Philosopher, Ancient

  4 Copy quote

• Politicians are better liars than writers.

  Shan Sa

  Liars, Politician

  4 Copy quote

• I talk to trees and animals. We have interesting conversations about food, weather, and love. They sometimes can predict the future.

  Shan Sa

  Animal, Interesting Conversation, Weather

  4 Copy quote

• I splash my head with ice-cold water and turn to face the mirror. When my image appears I instinctively look away. Is there a truth on the other side that we do not want to see?

  Shan Sa

  Mirrors, Ice, Water

  7 Copy quote

• would you dare to love me?

  Shan Sa

  Dare

  "Empress: A Novel". Book by Shan Sa, October 6, 2009.

  4 Copy quote

• Years have passed and how I am anxiously watching the twilight of my childhood, quietly sinking, never to rise again.

  Shan Sa

  Twilight, Years, Childhood

  4 Copy quote

• In the closed world of the gynaeceum, despite the gardens and parkland extending beyong the horizon, despite the insurmountable walls separating pavillions and palaces, the tangled web of our fate was inescapable. Why did these women love each other to the point of madness? Why did they loathe one another so vehemently, and why did sworn enemies feel such horror and fascination for one another? Why should furious hate become obsession, then intoxication and the very reason to live?Because love and hate were the two heads of the demon.

  Shan Sa

  Wall, Hate, Fate

  7 Copy quote

• To other women the choice of clothes was a form of ingenious exhibition, a shameless seduction. To me, dresses were like a breastplate that I put on to set off to war against this life.

  Shan Sa

  War, Clothes, Choices

  4 Copy quote

• Heroes are damned. No mortal conquers Death.

  Shan Sa

  Hero, Conquer, Mortals

  4 Copy quote

• Out on the street I start to run; I need to breathe in this life, the trees, the warmth of my town. I will be able to control my own fate and I will know how to be happy. Happiness is something you lay siege to, it is a battle . . .

  Shan Sa

  Running, Fate, Tree

  6 Copy quote

• I notice the silvery hair at his temples with a tinge of sadness. Why do parents grow old? Life is a castle of lies slowly dismantled by the passage of time. I regret not spending more time looking at the people I love.

  Shan Sa

  Regret, Lying, Sadness

  4 Copy quote

• I have written too much about lives - I feel I have lived for too long.

  Shan Sa

  Long, Too Much, Feels

  4 Copy quote

• I envied these women I saw before me, their beauty still intact. Life has its revenge of life. Untimely death is the secret of eternal youth.

  Shan Sa

  Revenge, Secret, Untimely Death

  5 Copy quote

• Tomorrow we will be nothing but earth and dust. Who will remember the love a soldier once knew?

  Shan Sa

  Dust, Soldier, Earth

  4 Copy quote

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