Under a Painted Sky

Princesa came to rancho one day after her owner no want her. Says too much horse for him, too wild. But he's wrong. She's not wild, she's spirited. 'Wild' means 'I no care about what I do.' But 'spirited' means, 'I love what I do.' Big difference.

Maybe what matters is not so much the path as who walks beside you.

West looks up. 'This is the best time to hunt, when the animals are out looking for their suppers. 'Course, with a painted sky, light's not always good.' I never heard someone call the sky painted before, but it's the perfect word. Clouds outlined in gold streak across the firmament, casting uneven shadows over the landscape.

no one ever injured an eye by looking at the bright side.

I pat my mule's neck and find comfort in the silky tufts of her mane. Father told me not to brood when people judged me for my wrapper, not my filling, or I would spend my whole life in the steamer.

You miss being a girl? I ask her. Not as much as I thought I would. Just feels like when I'm being a boy, I can cut a wider path.

Fly you crows. My father was not a spectacle. He was the greatest man I ever knew. He was my everything.

Your head’s like a room and when you’s forced to stay in it, you gotta deal with all the trash that’s left in there.

Just like life.” “What?” “The clouds. They never hold still. Sometimes you think you’re seeing one thing, and a second later, the whole picture changes.

I don’t understand the constant need to prove one’s manhood, as if it is always on the verge of slipping away. We never need to prove our womanhood.

I kiss him good-bye in my head, bidding farewell to the one I have loved in silence.

I bet those boys bit their way out of the womb,” Andy whispers.

My showmanship only comes out when I hold the violin—with Lady Tin-Yin in my arms, I don’t care who watches. A peace comes over me, something I call my violin calm.

There's a Chinese principle called yuanfen, which means your fate with someone else [...] Two people with strong yuanfen have a greater chance of meeting in their lifetimes, and can become as close as family.

We carry around the light of our loved ones who have passed. It is they who light the path for us.

You ever think about the noose?' 'I been thinking about the noose since I was born.

What good's a black face if it means I'm just someone else's property? Why give me these arms and legs just to carry someone else's load, not my own?

We carry around the light of our loved ones who have passed. It is they who light the path for us.” “Passed?

I mean, sometimes I wonder why God would grant a favor if trouble's just waiting around the corner? It feels disingenuous. If it's fate, then it's written in the stars, and we can't do much to avoid it.

You want my take, there’s nothing wrong with matching people up according to the stars, because at least someone gave a thought to it. Lots of deuces leap the altar ’cause they like getting sacked, and lots of girls agree ’cause they think they got no choice. Ain’t fair to the human race, and that’s the short of it.

I don’t understand the constant need to prove one’s manhood, as if it is always on the verge of slipping away. We never need to prove our womanhood. “You