"Feathered Serpant," by Xu Xiaobin

"After that she vanished from the Qin residence, but not from the earth as we might have imagined. Meihua was a smart and beautiful woman. All such women posses a great vitality. They can be crushed by fate, but they can also revive and be reborn. In this sense they are like some plants—hardy and capable of regenerating themselves, even though they seem fragile." —p.106

"An air-dried flower is sometimes more fragrant than a fresh one." —p.106, describing Meihua

"Outside the delivery room, three people were waiting anxiously. A life is about to be born. It has thousands of ways to grow; it can be as simple as a tiny seed growing in the dark." p.136, describing the birth of Yun'er

"One often wonders why those who are noisy are not heard, while those who have been reduced to shadows can establish a huge presence." p.162, Xiaotao thinking about Yu

"Little sparrow, little sparrow, Where has your mommy gone?" p.178, sung to baby Yun'er by Aunty Tian when Lun'er began to cry

"On the evening following the disaster, as aftershocks continued, people wearing red armbands went from house to house rendering aid and encouraging people to vacate their homes to prevent further injuries from collapsing structures. In fact, people required no persuasion; their will to live was sufficient motivation. People desire to live even if they live in hell. Naturally I refer to those "normal people" in a general sense." p.196, as Yushe (Yu) stays in one of the buildings after an earthquake

"Why do you—like so many other people—separate reality from dreams? Here is a secret: reality is a dream. Because the soul, like our body, must work and must rest as well; when the soul works, it is reality. When the soul rests, it is a dream. Think carefully: is it not true? And when my soul works, it's the time when your soul rests. To me, that is reality. To you, it is a dream. Correct?" p.244, Yu reasoning to Zhulong (Yuanguang) about reality

"You must learn to wear a mask. Your life would be easier. ... Really. You must wear a mask. I don't say you should be deceptive. It's a way of protecting yourself from interference from others. To live in this society you must not reveal too much of yourself. ... These are matters of common sense that you should learn from your family." "Then, when can one remove the mask?" "Only in the presence of those you trust." p.256, a conversation between Yu and Dr. Danzhu

"Women's intuition is surprisingly accurate." p.257, describing how easily and accurately Menjing guessed the father (Yuanguang/Zhulong) of her daughter (Yadan)'s baby

"... we may conclude that experience in dealing with the ordinary vicissitudes of life is unique for each individual. It cannot be reliably passed along from one person to another or from one generation to the next. Sadly, experience is like a one-way border: once it has been crossed, there is no going back. Such a paradox! If only experience could be cumulative, life would be simpler, with much less sorrow." p.261, on why Menjing cannot simply tell Yadan that longing for a man that does not love her in return will do no good for either

"The alchemy of love is beyond rational analysis, and, for all we know, the capacity for one person to love another maybe foreordained by the mysteries of life in the womb." p.261

"Mother, the old brainy mother, had thought about it after all. The foolish ones were her, them, the later ones. The seeds are deteriorating. The later generations can never catch up with the older ones. This trend is set in stone, irreversible." p.250-251, Ruomu realizing that Xuanming had been a step ahead of them in figuring out the family ties with Yangyang

"Once again she felt the horror in the simplicity and precession of the Chinese language. One word, "past," was all you needed to erase everything. This led her to think of the word "cruelty," but it was pale and powerless in comparison to the word "past." Eyes can change from clear to dull; skin can turn from bright to gray; inner strength can fade from strong to weak; the mind can change from sharp to slow—all those changes form a terrible process. A beautiful creature can be broken without even leaving a sound in the universe. Once it's broken, it becomes a thing of the pat. Thus, a broken body along with a broken sou is a thing of the past, left behind in another world." —p.306

Sandor Weores's poem: "To leave, I leave; to stay, I stay/To stay, I leave; to leave, I stay..."