"You must not tell anyone," my mother said, "what I am about to tell you." (First line, "No Name Woman") - Maxine Hong Kingston

Attraction eludes control so stubbornly that whole societies designed to organize relationships among people cannot keep order, not even when they bind people to one another from childhood and raise them together. (p12, "No Name Woman")

Mental work was harder than physical work, although it was not exactly the mind that teaching strained. (p41)

In the whole dark universe, I've met you at this bit of fire, and we speak with each other, and listen to each other. All of life and the war led up to this present time of being here with you. (p209)