16 Falling Leaves Quotes From the Memoir by Adeline Yen Mah

These Falling Leaves quotes will provide a glimpse into Adeline Yen Mah’s struggles.

Falling Leaves is a memoir written by Adeline Yen Mah in 1997.

The novel’s full title is Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter, which comprises 278 pages.

Tell us your favorite Falling Leaves quote in the comment section below.

What are the benefits of reading these Falling Leaves quotes?

Yen Mah tells her story of being born in a port city one thousand miles north of Shanghai and growing up in an affluent Chinese family.

Although her family was wealthy and had a high cultural position, Yen Mah was faced with growing up with a Eurasian stepmother that was both cruel and manipulative.

Yen Mah grew up with constant emotional abuse.

Determined to be independent, Yen Mah first moved to England and then to the United States to become a writer and a physician.

There are many lessons we can learn from these Falling Leaves quotes, including:

• some journeys into adulthood are filled with immense pain
• humans can overcome much more than we think
• love yourself even if it feels like no one else does

Check out these Falling Leaves quotes that will give you insight into Adeline Yen Mah’s struggles.

Insightful Falling Leaves Quotes

This set of quotes really teaches you about the author of Falling Leaves.

1. “Don’t trust anyone. Be a cold fish.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

2. “I hurt no one. And no one can hurt me.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

3. “I often think of life as a deposit of time.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

4. “Be smart. Study hard and be independent.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

5. “Friendship develops even if a thousand miles apart.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

6. “We are each allocated so many years, just like a fixed sum in a bank.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

7. “The world is changing. You must make your own life outside this home.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

8. “There was an unspoken pecking order of seating arrangements at lunch among my fellow physicians.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

9. “No matter what else people may steal from you, they will never be able to take away your knowledge.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

10. “I knew I was the least-loved child because I was a girl and because my mother had died giving birth to me.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

Wise Falling Leaves Quotes

Enjoy gathering some of the wisdom that Adeline Yen Mah shares in these next quotes.

11. “I am already seventy-four years old. I spent all my deposits two years ago and am on bonus time.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

12. “The pendulum of history will swing from the ying ashes brought by the Cultural Revolution to the yang phoenix arising from its wreckage.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

13. “The future belongs to you. Should anyone insult you, tell yourself this: I am a child of destiny who will unite East and West and change the world.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

14. “Apart from colour, we were shunned because we did not bring in patients ourselves but, like vultures, lived off the patients generated by other doctors.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

15. “At the age of three, my grand aunt proclaimed her independence by categorically refusing to have her feet bound, resolutely tearing off the bandages as fast as they were applied.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

16. “In this cosy, noisy, gregarious world of the ‘all-Chinese sickbed, so different from the stark, sterile solitude of the American hospital room, her life had assumed the astounding quality of a continuous farewell party.” ― Adeline Yen Mah

Some Obstacles That Adeline Yen Mah Faced

Besides an abusive stepmother, Yen Mah also faced living in a time when women were kept in emotional chains.

Yen Mah overcame all that and even overcame the difficulty of assimilating to a new culture to become a successful physician and writer.

Please share these Falling Leaves quotes with your friends and family and post any comments in the comment section below.