Iris Chang

“Genocide, after all, is an exercise in community building.”

“The spoken word vanishes, but the written word remains.”

“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”

“There is a certain comfort in knowing that you are not the only one who has ever been through this. It is a source of strength.”

“Power is the faculty or capacity to act, the strength and potency to accomplish something. It is the vital energy to make choices and decisions. It also includes the capacity to overcome deeply embedded resistance and courageously conquer hurdles.”

“Please believe in THE POWER OF ONE. One person can make an enormous difference in the world. One person—actually, one idea—can start a war, or end one, or subvert an entire power structure.”

“Writing is a Sisyphean marathon, a never-ending, self-flagellating exercise in humility.”

“You can be the most powerful person in the world, but if you don't have a moral compass, you're just a bully.”

“History is important because it is a laboratory of human experience.”

“The world is not a secure place. The world is not a safe place. There are no easy answers.”

“I believe that the truth is the greatest weapon we have to fight injustice.”

“I wanted to write a book that would be impossible to put down.”

“To me, the refusal to remember is a form of complicity.”