Fancy lovers never last. (p81) - Maxine Hong Kingston

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

They think that Americans are either white or Black. I can't wear that civil-rights button with the Black hand and the white hand shaking each other. I have a nightmare-after duking it out, someday Blacks and whites will shake hands over my head. I'm the little yellow man beneath the bridge of their hands and overlooked. (p307)

The lights of the city on hills make a vertical shimmer from sky straight into the water, like a backdrop, like a dream. (p37)