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Amy Tan Quotes about Pain

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That is the way it is with a wound. The wound begins to close in on itself, to protect what is hurting so much. And once it is closed, you no longer see what is underneath, what started the pain.

That is the way it is with a wound. The wound begins to close in on itself, to protect what is hurting so much. And once it is closed, you no longer see what is underneath, what started the pain.

Amy Tan
Hurt, Pain, Way
Amy Tan (2006). “The Joy Luck Club”, p.47, Penguin

So this is what I will do. I will gather together my past and look. I will see a thing that has already happened. the pain that cut my spirit loose. I will hold that pain in my hand until it becomes hard and shiny, more clear. And then my fierceness can come back, my golden side, my black side. I will use this sharp pain to penetrate my daughter's tough skin and cut her tiger spirit loose. She will fight me, because this is the nature of two tigers. But I will win and giver her my spirit, because this is the way a mother loves her daughter.

Amy Tan
Mother, Daughter, Pain
Amy Tan (2006). “The Joy Luck Club”, p.252, Penguin

Love is tricky. It is never mundane or daily. You can never get used to it. You have to walk with it, then let it walk with you. You can never balk. It moves you like the tide. It takes you out to sea, then lays you on the beach again. Today's struggling pain is the foundation for a certain stride through the heavens. You can run from it but you can never say no. It includes everyone.

Amy Tan
Running, Beach, Pain
"The Hundred Secret Senses". Book by Amy Tan, 2010.

From what I have observed, when the anesthesia of love wears off, there is always the pain of consequences. You don't have to be stupid to marry the wrong man.

Amy Tan
Pain, Stupid, Men
Amy Tan (2005). “Saving Fish from Drowning”, p.24, Penguin

I did not lose myself all at once. I rubbed out my face over the years washing away my pain, the same way carvings on stone are worn down by water.

Amy Tan
Love, Pain, Years
Amy Tan (2006). “The Joy Luck Club”, p.67, Penguin

Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain.

Amy Tan
Pain, Flesh, Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan (2006). “The Joy Luck Club”, p.48, Penguin

I learned to make things not matter, to put a seal on my hopes and place them on a high shelf, out of reach. And by telling myself that there was nothing inside those hopes anyway, I avoided the wounds of deep disappointment. The pain was no worse than the quick sting of a booster shot. And yet thinking about this makes me ache again. How is it that as a child I knew I should have been loved more? Is everyone born with a bottomless emotional resevoir?

Amy Tan
Children, Pain, Disappointment
Amy Tan (1995). “The Hundred Secret Senses: A Novel”, p.15, Penguin

How I saw in her my own true nature. What was beneath my skin. Inside my bones... Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain. This is how a daughter honors her mother. It is shou so deep it is in your bones. The pain of the flesh is nothing. The pain you must forget. Because sometimes that is the only way to remember what is in your bones. You must peel off your skin, and that of your mother, and her mother before her. Until there is nothing. No scar, no skin, no flesh.

Amy Tan
Daughter, Mother, Pain

I saw a girl complaining that the pain of not being seen was unbearable... Now I have perfect understanding. I have already experienced the worst. After this, there is no worse possible thing.

Amy Tan
Girl, Pain, Perfect

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