people-from-taipei

"“Son, you hungry?” Roen said, coming up behind him. “I found this pizza joint a few blocks away. It’s French pizza—” he made a face “—but French pizza’s better than no pizza. Interested?”"

"The biggest mistake of the twentieth century. Go. “I’m going to have to say that art school rejecting Hitler’s application, leading him toward the career choice of becoming a mass murderer. That or New Coke. You?”"

"Symmetry, of course, was the scientific formula of beauty."

"Roen was speechless. “You… were spying on me!” Stephen laughed. “Let’s say we used you as an unpaid intelligence consultant.”"

"Do not separate authority from responsibility."

"Jill blanched. Shooting a RPG was not part of her training. It is easy. Point and pull the trigger, like operating a vacuum cleaner. “I don’t know what sorts of house cleaning you’re used to, but the ones I have—”"

"The level of dumb you humans can achieve is quite mind-boggling."

"“Well, old boy, the world is in a bit of a jam. Seems aliens as a whole are just a step below taxes on the world popularity scale.” Roen grunted. “At least the Quasing are still above politicians then.” “I would put them about even,” said Marco."

"“Tao, I don’t understand why I need to know this.” Advanced mathematics opens doors to many fields of study. More importantly, it expands the way you think."

"When there is no one else left to fight, then there will be nothing left but peace."

"Conquering a kingdom is always the easy part. It is keeping it that is difficult."

"“I don’t know how many ways I can say no before it sinks into his concrete head.” The rich rarely accept “no” as an answer."

"Fate is created, not ordained."

"She was at the same time extraordinarily sweet and completely vapid. She spent half of her time at school staring at her cell phone and the other half staring at herself."

"You, somehow, have the greatest potential of all my hosts, and are one of the dumbest, at the same time. “Gee, thanks for the confidence booster.” On the contrary, it is brave stupid people who change the world. The smart ones are usually too smart to even try."

"He was also designated the tactical lead during this operation, simply because everyone else had an accent, which would give them away in a heartbeat. Well, everyone except for Chase, who was from Dallas, but that guy couldn’t lead children to an ice cream truck, let alone a last-minute multi-faceted ambush."

"He ducked when he could, blocked when he had to, and gave up ground faster than the French in World War II."

"I tried to warn you about her. “You’re not helping.” But nope, teenage humans. The worst, most ill-conceived creatures in the universe. “Other than turkeys, right?” Yes, nothing beats those morons."

"Once you spend three thousand years in the same place, you are pretty much done with it forever."

"He was an awful liar. Tao often lamented how bad he was at it, citing it as an Achilles heel in his future career as a secret agent. It’s true. Lying, charm, and a well-fitting suit are the traits that distinguish James Bond from every other asshole with a gun. “I don’t think I even own a suit.” You do not own the other two either."

"Then someone said the magic words. “The Internet is down!”"

"“What’s the trick?” It is easy. The trick is I am much smarter than you."

"When someone asked Roen what he did, he explained that he typed incoherent commands that performed virtual tasks to create intangible objects. At the end of the day, Roen wasn’t sure what he did or why he did it—just that every two weeks, he received a paycheck for the hours of his life wasted, building these imaginary things on some server located somewhere."

"You’re not being paid to like your work."

"“God, he’s trying to kill me!” Doubtful, he is most likely aiming for a non-vital area. “Every part of me is vital!”"

"She is so far out of your league that you are not even playing the same sport."

"“The world spins despite me, not because of me,” he muttered."

"Enlightenment and peace can never be achieved by force."

"Everyone laid a hand on him and closed their eyes. It reminded Roen of one of those healing prayer circles he attended in college church. No one ever got healed, but it was a good way for him to get close to some girls."

"Conflict does breed innovation, but so does diversity and cultural development. Bringing people together to share ideas is just as powerful a catalyst."

"I’m not one to fall for religious psychobabble, but then I’ve always had a problem with a rabbit that lays painted eggs."

"“Always comes down to money, huh?” Makes the damn world go round."

"Every time I think you guys can’t get any more ridiculous, you prove me wrong."

"You work nose to the grindstone to get your foot in the door and establish yourself in this industry, but there’s never a guarantee–never an absolute certainty that your efforts will be rewarded in the way you envision. But, I do believe that so long as you’ve got the work ethic and tenacity, you’ll at least be ready when the opportunity arrives."

"Whatever the director asks me to do, I will do and make him happy. I’m a fool."

"While doing all this, I myself also developed my own personality and my way of acting, and the audience followed my growth. So when I played female characters who had strong personalities, I already had gone through some abundant, enriching real life experiences. By nature, I am a bit shy as a person, and so I was quite suited to making romantic films. I had many strong emotions in my heart, and I always wanted the audience to have a good impression of me, though I had many inner, suppressed feelings."

"There were no agents, no companies and as actors we had to do everything by ourselves. I would do my own make-up, prepare my own outfits from home and bring them to set the next day."

"I almost got no sleep, shooting eight hours in one film, followed by eight hours in another and eight hours in a third film. But whenever we were done at the end of the day, I never thought of packing up. I always couldn’t bear to go home."

"The rhythm in Hong Kong was much quicker, and there was a whole organization that took care of me. When my films were shown there, I became famous overnight. A lot of producers [reached out] to me and I didn’t know what to choose, what kind of offer to accept. In some cases, I simply wasn’t allowed to say no."

"Writing is tiring and difficult, but I can sit at my desk for hours and hours, writing through the night to dawn. I never had any prior writing experience, but I learned that it’s not about using heavy vocabulary, and more about how I can express my sincerity."

"Now we are living in the digital age. I feel very lucky and appreciative that young people now have the opportunity of coming to know the kind of films we shot in the past."

"My motto is to always do your homework before any meeting or event, and to always dress for the occasion. Sometimes I say that it’s better to say nothing than to speak with no purpose!"

"I never complained about the hardships. I just thought this was what I was supposed to do. I did that for 22 years. By the time I was doing Asia the Invincible, I felt like I didn’t have the energy to keep acting even though my heart wanted to. That’s when I thought about retirement. Swordsman II was a huge hit, and I told Nansun Shi that maybe it’s about time I retire."

"That first experience of making movies was like being in heaven. I was so happy. Everyone treated me so well. I was so curious about acting; I love watching movies, so I really enjoyed it. Once, I was rehearsing on the set, and I felt so sad that people were leaving at the end of the day, but then I was relieved that we could keep doing this on the next day."

"The ultimate goal of laws is to educate the society to abide by the law and law by itself can only address the symptoms, but education can reach deep into our heart, which is far more effective to set the society on the right course. So, education is the fundamental solution. Although I am an educator, I am marching toward the same goal as a lawyer and there is no need to feel disappointed."

"If we don't put forward such a proposal (signing a peace pact with Mainland China) and start negotiating with (Mainland) China, how can we know we will not achieve any results?"

"If I win (2016 ROC presidential election), I will promote peace development across the Taiwan Strait and let people enjoy the benefits."

"With a woman's selflessness and kindness, I look to end populism and political wrangling between the blue and green camps in the coming (2016 ROC) presidential election against Tsai (Ing-wen)."

"Since I'm shouldering this commitment, I will do it with courage and without fear. Being the president of the Republic of China is no simple task."

"People should remember history so they can truly cherish what they have now."