Viet Thanh Nguyen

Nothing is ever so expensive as what is offered for free.

If youth was not wasted, how could it be youth?

I could live without television, but not without books.

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 to do. We fail because others understand this better than we do.

While it is better to be loved than hated, it is also far better to be hated than ignored.

As Hegel said, tragedy was not the conflict between right and wrong but right and right , a dilemma none of us who wanted participate in history could escape.

Remember, you're not half of anything, you're twice of everything.

I was in close quarters with some representative specimens of the most dangerous creature in the history of the world, the white man in a suit.

Now a guarantee of happiness—that's a great deal. But a guarantee to be allowed to pursue the jackpot of happiness? Merely an opportunity to buy a lottery ticket. Someone would surely win millions, but millions would surely pay for it.