Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" I was born on the island of Singapore, and I grew up there until I was 11 years old, when I was forcibly removed by my dad and planted into suburban Houston. I was in shock for the first year and then began to really love it - but didn't love it quite enough to stay. "

Kevin Kwan

Enough

Born

Singapore

Related Quotes:

" I have a photographic memory. "

Kevin Kwan

Photographic

Memory

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

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

" 'China rich' is the new 'crazy rich.' It's a new level of outrageousness. It comes from this world where overnight fortunes have been made, but the fortunes are so ginormous compared to anything we've ever seen in the history of the world. "

" Every family is a crazy family. "

" I love romantic comedies more than anything. "

Kevin Kwan

Anything

Love

" 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. "

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

" I come from an old establishment family from Singapore. "

" I go to Shenzhen, China, and am taken to a vast luxury spa with a hundred leather recliners and a hundred accompanying plasma screen televisions bolted to the ceiling. "

Kevin Kwan

Ceiling

Leather

" When cultural movements happen, it's so beyond your control. "

" 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. "

" People are often disappointed when they meet me because I'm not this giant, flamboyant - you know, I don't wear sequined jackets. "

Kevin Kwan

Know

Because

" I'm naturally a shy, quiet person. "

" I came from a family of extremely old money, and so by the time I was born, there was really just a trickle of money left. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" It's not normal to go into a house and see a pond in the middle of the living room full of baby sharks. It's not normal to go to someone's garage and see a private plane. "

Kevin Kwan

Someone

Baby

" As a child, I didn't even realize I was Chinese. I was Singaporean, but my identity was wrapped up in the culture I was experiencing every day. "

" I would not call my family 'traditional Chinese.' We were more what I would term the Colonial Chinese. "

" I grew up at a time in Singapore - the '70s and '80s - where it was still possible to go riding around the island barefoot. And I was one of these kids that was just climbing trees and running around the neighbourhood. "

" 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. "

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

" I remembered that my grandfather had spent his teenage years in Shanghai and that he went back after he finished medical school to work there in a hospital. So I went back into my family archives and was able to find out his exact address; it was a street that was in the French Concession. "

" Especially in the West, people want to understand Asia on a deeper level because it's become the engine of the world economy, like it or not. "

" When my first novel, 'Crazy Rich Asians,' was published in 2013, many readers were astonished to learn that in Asia, there were women who dressed in couture from morning till night. "

" I'm a writer. I'm naturally introverted, so being the public face of something, I don't think I do it well. "

" My golden dream was to move to New York and live in the Village and become that cool rebel beatnik Jack Kerouac. "

" 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 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. "