“When the little man threw me to the deck, the fall bruised the back of my head. When he ripped my shirt off, he drew blood with his sharp fingernails. When I turned my face away and saw my mother… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share Image
“America’s great promise! The promise of the immigrant! The promise of the American Dream! The promise that the people of this country used to hold dear and will one day soon hold dear again, that America is a land of… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share Image
“He had a Minnesotan’s admiration for resourcefulness in the face of hardship, bred by generations of people one very bad winter away from starvation… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“When was the last time an American president found it worth his while to write a speech on the importance of art and literature?… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“We don't succeed or fail because of fortune or luck. We succeed because we understand the way the world works and what we have… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“Innocence and guilt. These are cosmic issues. We’re all innocent on one level and guilty on another. Isn’t that what Original Sin is all… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“After all, nothing was more American than wielding a gun and committing oneself to die for freedom and independence, unless it was wielding that… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“She wondered what, if anything, she knew about love. Not much, perhaps, but enough to know that what she would do for him now… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“One could choose between innocence and experience, but one could not have both.” — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“then, to present myself as just another immigrant, glad to be in the land where the pursuit of happiness was guaranteed in writing, which,… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“He was more embarrassed and discreet about sex than about things I thought more difficult, like killing people, which pretty much defined the history… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“While it is better to be loved than hated, it is also far better to be hated than ignored” — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“Every full bottle of alcohol has a message in it, a surprise that one will not discover until one drinks it.” — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“We shared a passion for words, but I preferred the silence of writing while she loved to talk. She” — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“Are you going to be the kind of person who always pays the asking price?” my mother demanded. “Or the kind who fights to… — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
“Even if they found themselves in Heaven, our countrymen would find occasion to remark that it was not as warm as Hell.” — Viet Thanh Nguyen Copy Share
