Kevin Kwan Quotes

It only takes a spark, to get the fire going. And soon all those around, can warm up in its glowing. That's how it is with God's love, once you've experienced it. You want to sing, it's fresh like spring, you want to Pass It On. "Can I make a suggestion, Astrid?" Charlie said as the junk made its way back to Repulse

I do believe that peoples' natures can be changed, and they have to be changed if we want to live in this modern world and be a part of it.

If I were to generalize a bit, I would say that the ultra rich in Asia live on a scale that far surpasses the wealthy in the U.S. or Europe.

Well, Nicky, I hate to point out the obvious, but here's this tiny bird that's been trying to get through a huge bulletproof glass wall. A totally impossible situation. You tell me it's been here every day pecking away persistently for ten minutes. Well, today the glass came down.

I'm not sure if being Chinese really helped, but I do think that if a non-Asian had written a book called 'Crazy Rich Asians,' they might not have been looked upon so kindly.

There is nothing in the world that good food cannot fix.

Even if they're not Asian or super rich ... everyone has a nagging mother. Everyone has that obnoxious uncle, or that cousin who's a bit too snobby.

There are old-money Asians that would never be caught dead with a Chanel handbag or sporting anything that has a label it.

It would have been amazing to have been a student at Oxford during that golden moment in the 1910s, rubbing elbows with the likes of Aldous Huxley and T.E. Lawrence, before World War I shattered everything forever.

I'm telling you, this so-called 'prosperity' is going to be the downfall of Asia. Each new generation becomes lazier than the next. They think they can make overnight fortunes just by flipping properties and getting hot tips in the stock market. Ha! Nothing lasts forever, and when this boom ends, these youngsters won't know what hit them

Such huge money has been made in China - it can be hundreds of millions in a year - and there's a need to validate it by showing what they can buy and how much of it.

Old money in Southeast Asia is much more discrete and low key. It's about not wearing brand names. It's about being invisible, almost. The billionaire can be taking the bus with you.

Some people had all the luck, being born into the right family.

Certainly, living in the U.S., as I have for over two decades, you see how Asians are portrayed in the media ... I didn't see myself represented, you know, when I used to look at ads on TV.

I don't understand. How can a credit card ever be rejected? It's not like it's a kidney!" Colette laughed.

I live in New York, but I still get the village gossip. My apartment is a crash pad for so many Singaporean cousins and friends.

In order for me to write a scene, it's very important for me to see and experience everything with my own eyes, so yes, I was able to visit some remarkable houses and destinations while I was in China.

I think snobbery is one of the oldest customs in the world, and the rich will always find ways to rank each other and make themselves feel more special than others.

Behind every fortune lies a great crime.

To me, families are fascinating. I choose to explore it through comedy and through comic situations.

The characters that populate my books are global nomads in their own right, keeping multiple homes around the world and constantly jet-setting to new places.

What do you mean, 'boundaries?' You came out of my vagina. What kind of boundaries do we have?

I've recently rediscovered Anthony Trollope. I used to read him back in college, and a friend turned me on to a whole new series of his work, 'The Palliser Series.' It's a series of seven or eight books.

Why do all these ABCs talk to you as if they think you are their best friend?

This little girl needs to be raised properly - by a team of sensible Cantonese nannies, not interfering parents!

about a man whose greatness had nothing to do with wealth or power.

The idea of Asian ascendancy has entered public culture.

Michael, don't you know by now that my grandmother and Uncle Alfred are the largest private shareholders of Singapore Press Holdings? We're not going to be in the papers. We're never going to be in the papers.

I've always been drawn to the Edwardian period in England. To me, it seems like such a fascinating time, when the British Empire was at the height of its powers and the strict mores of the Victorian age were dissipating into the decadence of King Edward's reign.

I know an elderly society matron in Singapore who would rather walk in the scorching sun for blocks on end rather than have her chauffeur drive into the Central Business District at peak hour and pay the $1.50 surcharge.

I don't think you truly realize what it means for the gates of Tyersall Park to be closed to you forever."

Nick laughed. "Jacqueline, you sound like some character out of a Trollope novel!

I'm not revealing any deep, hidden secret that there are wealthy people in Asia.

There's something really cathartic about that, about owning up to your truth.

No matter our background, we all have crazy families.

There's so much emphasis on the economic might of China, of Southeast Asia, Asian 'Super Tigers' and things like that. But nobody was really looking from the perspective of a family story, of these individuals.

I wanted to introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience.

I've lived in New York City for over twenty years now, and every single day is like a new adventure. At this point, there are many places I'd love to visit, but I can't imagine living anywhere else on the planet.

My grandparents were far more English in their manners than they were Chinese. For example, we spoke English at home, had afternoon tea every day, and my grandfather, who attended university in Scotland, would smoke his pipe after dinner.

I was born in Singapore, and I lived there until I was 12. I had a very fortunate upbringing.

It's human nature when you first make your big fortune to want to show off a bit. I don't begrudge that whatsoever.

In Asia, it's customary to get together with your entire extended family on a regular basis, and it's all rife with politics.

I wanted to explore what all this new-found wealth means for the different generations of Chinese who have to live together in this place that is transforming at warp speed into the richest country on the planet.

Siem began to play the first familiar chords of "Theme from Out of Africa," and sighs of delight could be heard from the audience, Oliver noted, "It's all about that chin, isn't it, clenched against the violin as if he's makine savage love to it. That marvelous chin is what's making all the ladies cream their knickers.

I didn't know what to say. I just stood there and noticed Gordon Ramsay over by the carrot truffle fries and all I could think was, "What is Gordon going to think if I say no?

There's always been this tradition of satirizing these rich groups of people.

A lot of the people who live the lives of 'Crazy Rich Asians' don't see the humour of their lives simply because this is just who they are. Even though I'm from that part of the world, I'm no longer part of that world.

Living in the West, you see how there's only two versions of how Asian men are supposed to be. Either they're very nice, yuppie husbands with children in ads, or they're IT geeks.

One of the dreams on my wish list is to spend more time in Thailand.

Just because some people actually work for their money doesn't mean they are beneath you.

I think the most impractical thing one can do is not follow your passions.

real-world-immersion friends in Compton.

By sheer dumb luck, my father was born in the right place at the right moment in time - when the whole region was going through enormous, unprecedented growth. And oh yeah, he also inherited an empire that had already been set up four generations before him. I think he looks down on people like your father - people who are self-made - because at the heart of it he is a deeply insecure individual. He knows he did absolutely nothing to deserve his fortune, and so the only thing he can do is disparage others who have the audacity to make their own money. His friends are all the same - they are frightened of the new money that's rolling in, and that's why they cluster in their little enclaves.

Her family are the Medicis of Asia.

It used to be, on TV, you'd see only two types of Asians. You'd see the science geek who's using his mobile phone or something like that, or you'd see a very token Asian family - yuppie mother and father and two little Asian kids. It's the last barrier for Hollywood.

After this trip, New York is going to seem like a dump. Every place I go to in China seems to be more luxurious than the last.

Welcome to Stratosphere. Which church do you normally attend?"
Kitty tried to think of all the churches she passed every single day on the way down from her apartment on The Peak, but her mind temporarily went blank. "Er, the Church of Volturi," she blurted out, picturing the church-like space from the Twilight movies where those scary old vampires sat on thrones.

Canada has become such a staging area for Chinese money.

My mother likes to say that I was conceived to shop - not just born to shop. My whole life as a child was following her and her sister and friends around on her shopping trips.

Eleanor had a long-held theory about men. She truly believed that for most men, all that talk of "being in love" or "finding the right one" was absolute nonsense. Marriage was purely a matter of timing, and whenever a man was finally done sowing his wild oats and ready to settle down, whichever girl happened to be there at the time would be the right one.

You love your children so much, you do everything to try to protect them, and they don't even appreciate it.

we were buying things we actually loved, not things to show off,

Doing nothing can sometimes be the most effective form of action.

To Eleanor, every single person occupied a specific space in the elaborately constructed social universe in her mind.

In Singapore, there may be 50 old-money families, but you wouldn't know them to look at them.

My father came from old money. There was less of an expectation for the children to earn a living.

My father grew up in a life of extreme privilege.

My books are comedies; I want to take my readers on a jet-setting romp, make them laugh, make them swoon at the beautiful settings, and maybe even make their mouths water at all the food.

Perfection comes at a sacrifice,

My father went to boarding school in Sydney when he was 14.

...Growing up as a racial minority in America, you feel that the ultimate act of assimilation is to marry into the dominant race. Which is why you only ever date WASPs … or Eurotrash.

People have always been fascinated by the foibles of the wealthy and privileged.

If it's not on sale at Ross Dress for Less, I don't care what the brand is.

In a city where people are almost as obsessed with food as they are with status, perhaps the best-kept secret of the dining scene is that the finest cuisine arguably isn't found at the Michelin-starred restaurants in five-star hotels but rather at private dining clubs.

As a child, I could bike down the hill from my house and grab an ice-cold bottle of soda from the neighborhood grocer, which was nothing more than a corrugated metal shack run by two Indian men clad in sarongs.

I'm not going to be wearing a single piece of jewelry tonight. I was born a Tung, and I have nothing to prove to anyone.

The most important thing to keep in mind is the incredible diversity of talent that's out there - there are so many great actors from all over Asia, from Singapore and Hong Kong to the Philippines and Mainland China, not to mention many great Asian-American actors who are eager for fun and challenging roles.

She wasn't a rebel, because to call her one would imply that she was breaking the rules