Saigon Quotes

“Nobody gives way to anybody. Everyone just angles, points, dives directly toward his destination, pretending it is an all-or-nothing gamble. People glare at one another and fight for maneuvering space. All parties are equally determined to get the right-of-way--insist on it. They swerve away at the last possible moment, giving scant inches to spare. The victor goes forwards, no time for a victory grin, already engaging in another contest of will. Saigon traffic is Vietnamese life, a continuous charade of posturing, bluffing, fast moves, tenacity and surrenders.”
― Andrew X. Pham, Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam

“I hate being told I can't do something because I'm a girl!”
― Thanhha Lai

“Post-Traumatic Stress Injury isn't a disease. It's a wound to the soul that never heals.”
― Tom Glenn

“I already know a thing or two. I know it’s not clothes that make women beautiful or otherwise, nor beauty care, nor expensive creams, nor the distinction or costliness of their finery. I know the problem lies elsewhere. I don’t know where. I only know it isn’t where women think. I look at the women in the streets of Saigon, and up-country. Some of them are very beautiful, very white, they take enormous care of their beauty here, especially up-country. They don’t do anything, just save themselves up, save themselves up for Europe, for lovers, holidays in Italy, the long six-months’ leaves every three years, when at last they’ll be able to talk about what it’s like here, this peculiar colonial existence, the marvellous domestic service provided by the houseboys, the vegetation, the dances, the white villas, big enough to get lost in, occupied by officials in distant outposts. They wait, these women. They dress just for the sake of dressing. They look at themselves. In the shade of their villas, they look at themselves for later on, they dream of romance, they already have huge wardrobes full of more dresses than they know what to do with, added together one by one like time, like the long days of waiting. Some of them go mad. Some are deserted for a young maid who keeps her mouth shut. Ditched. You can hear the word hit them, hear the sound of the blow. Some kill themselves.”
― Marguerite Duras, The Lover

“When I crawled down the rabbit hole into the pivotal event of my life--indeed the pivotal event of my generation--to write "Escape from Saigon - a Novel" I never expected it to be such an emotional journey into a life I left four decades ago.”
― Dick Pirozzolo, Escape from Saigon

“Tại sao người ta lại hay chạy trốn khi phát hiện mình đã yêu? Sự chạy trốn có thật sự là quên, hay ngày trở về nhìn phố và lại ước khi thấy mình chưa bao giờ thôi nhớ?”
― Phiên Nghiên, Trái tim son trẻ

“Grit and tenacity will take you far in life, but love and forgiveness will carry you to the finish line.”
― Amy M. Le, Snow in Vietnam: A Novel

“Trờ lại Vũng Tàu và Cần Giờ lần này, ở cửa sông ông thấy nhiều cá heo ở nước ngọt màu hồng (ngày nay như ta biết không còn cá heo sông ở sông Sài Gòn - Đồng Nai nữa, chỉ còn một ít gần như tuyệt chủng ở sông Cửu Long)”
― Nguyễn Đức Hiệp, Sài Gòn - Chợ Lớn qua những tư liệu quý trước 1945

“Cool and serene, I thought... like a pale Japanese watercolour. After a few months in the province and many field trips, I still couldn't believe the delicate beauty of the Vietnamese countryside.”
― Robert H. Dodd, Don't Break My Rice Bowl: A beautiful and gripping novel, highlighting the personal and tragic struggles faced during the Vietnam War, bringing the late author and his 'forgotten' manuscript to life