“ Not to own the means of production can lead to premature death, but not to own the means of representation is also a kind of death. For if we are represented by others, might they not, one day, hose o… Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ I believe our clever young man has intuited that while only the pursuit of happiness is promised to all Americans, unhappiness is guaranteed for many. Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory. Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ I was no more than the garment worker who made sure the stitching was correct in an outfit designed, produced, and consumed by the wealthy white people of the world. They owned the means of production… Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ No one asks poor people if they want war. Nor had anyone asked these poor people if they wanted to die of thirst and exposure on the coastal sea, or if they wanted to be robbed and raped by their own… Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ Moreover, Nancy Sinatra was afflicted, as the overwhelming majority of Americans were, with monolingualism. Lana’s richer, more textured version of Bang Bang layered English with French and Vietnamese… Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ I did not want to write this book as a way of explaining the humanity of Vietnamese. Toni Morrison says in Beloved that to have to explain yourself to white people distorts you because you start from… Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ Every full bottle of alcohol has a message in it, a surprise that one will not discover until one drinks it Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ Priests always had much attention lavished on them by their starstruck fans,those devout housewives and wealthy congregants who treated them as if they were guardians of the velvet rope blocking entra… Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ I had the vertiginous feeling one gets standing at the precipice of an unresolved plan, for I had brought Bon and myself to the brink of disaster without knowing how to save us. But was not this how a… Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ If God did not exist, then neither did divine punishment, but this meant nothing to ghosts who did not need God. Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ We lie in wait for the right moment and the just cause, which, at this moment, is simply wanting to live. Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ Lmost everything looked more beautiful from a distance, the earth becoming more perfect as one ascended and came closer to seeing the world from God's eyes, man's hovels and palaces disappearing, the… Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ Cheered by the optimism that one sometimes had at the beginning of strenuous exercise, a kind of helium that filled our lungs and carried us along Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ Love is being able to talk to someone else without effort, without hiding, and at the same time to feel absolutely comfortable not saying a word. At least that's one way I've figured out hot to descri… Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ While it is better to be loved than hated, it is also far better to be hated than ignored. Viet Thanh Nguyen
“ Some animals could see in the dark, but it was only humans who deliberately sought out every possible route into the darkness of our own interiors. Viet Thanh Nguyen
