The Happiest Refugee Quotes
"There's only two times in life, there's now and there's too late."
"Always question your fear, Anh. There's almost never a good reason to be scared."
"The most dangerous animal is the one cornered and fearful."
"You listen to us, kids. As you grow up, you make sure you do as much as you can to give back to this country that gave us a second chance."
"If the worst happens, if you lose and fail, but you still celebrate coming second because you've given it a red hot go, there is no need to fear failure."
"Your father loved Blackie, too, Anh. But he knows when an animal is near its end."
"If you got sick, you could go to the doctor for free. If you couldn’t get a job straight away, the government gave you some money to help you get by."
"Your father’s the best when it comes to animals."
"In what was rapidly approaching a poker full-house, Uncle Six also lived with us for a while. Uncle Six was a big part of my childhood and what I remember about him most is that he had an enormous amount of empathy."
"Picking a car lock is a bit like riding a bike, once you’ve done it, it kind of stays with you forever."
"It was totally illegal and totally fantastic."
"For twenty minutes it was great fun, but after that the floor started getting hot."
"Eventually we finished a cage that was wonky, not quite square, but to us it looked like a bird Taj Mahal."
"You didn’t always get what you wanted, but my dad was the type of guy you could try it on."
"Then you try and anticipate what things might sell for, hoping no one else wants that American Indian with the flashing neon eyes."
"For an eleven-year-old kid it was magic."
"And if it doesn’t work out, we’ll cook it."
"That was the end of the farm, and that was the end of my dad the farmer."
"Grandma always had a wonderful youthfulness about her."
"She used to come in after a hard day’s work in the garden, crack open a can of VB, put her feet up and sing karaoke."
"My family were, and still are, extremely paranoid when it comes to documentation."
"Mum and Dad went back to scrounging out a living sewing clothes in our living room."
"Now Dad’s the type of guy who can bounce back after a financial setback, but losing the trust and friendship of his brothers was crippling for him."
"‘You’re doing well, son. Just a couple more years and you’ll have the marks to choose a profession that you’ll love and you’ll not have to do a crappy job like me.’"
"My mind was always chattering and churning out the same thoughts."
"I remember her standing on a stool to reach up to the sink just so she could wash the dishes."
"At fifteen I spent a few weeks as a volunteer at a homeless shelter."
"I’ve always found that if you apply yourself at the right time with the right intensity, you can accomplish just about anything."
"It felt like I liked her more than what should rightly be described by the word ‘like’, more like that other L-word."
"A policeman told me later, after they’d examined the tyre marks, that he was charging along full pelt like Sandra Bullock in Speed."
"Every now and then in rugby league you get smacked so hard by a big guy that you find yourself lying flat on the ground staring at the sky."
"Thank god Tram and Khoa didn’t come, one of them would’ve been killed."
"I had to learn off-by-heart all the postcodes of every single suburb in New South Wales in one week."
"It’s like being one of those people who say their Rs as Ws and work as a Weal Estate Bwoker."
"I was going to have to be a pain this time, but I wasn’t going to do it."
"‘I’m doing about sixty to sixty-five hours a week. I’m trying to cut back, but it can get pretty intense.’"
"‘To thine own self be true, Anh. Never let others force you into anything you don’t want to do. Let your own integrity be the ultimate guide.’"
"‘Actually, I’m from Vietnam,’ I told her."
"‘Well, you look very much like an American Indian.’"
"‘Well, thanks . . . I guess,’ I replied."
"‘He’s not good looking enough to be gay,’ she said, grinning."
"‘You’ve got to be kidding. Is that really duck’s blood?’"
"‘If you find the right woman, don’t muck around and waste any time, marry her.’"
"‘You are an absolute nutter, Anh Do. But I love you!’"
"Pacino’s a misogynist. A male chauvinist pig . . . bird. He has to go."
"You have got to be kidding! What bird did I torture in a past life to deserve this?"
"What do I do now? To be fair just before I went on stage the club events guy realised how absurd the situation was."
"‘You know why we lost the war, Anh? It was all those bloody tunnels that the communists dug."
"‘Isn’t that interesting, Anh, that one of Australia’s favourite songs is about a little Vietnamese town called Khe Sanh."
"‘I left my heart to the sapper’s round Khe Sanh."
"‘All I had to do was cook for five minutes, and they put us in a beautiful hotel,’ she giggled."
"‘Dad, you go in and tell the manager that Anh Do, the comedian, is here."
"My own entourage, which consisted of one skinny Vietnamese man with his pullover tucked deep into his pants and wearing the biggest grin I’ve ever seen, put out his hand and shook the big guy’s hand."
"‘Your grandfather . . .’ she stumbled, wiping away tears as the memories came back to her."
"‘You know why? Because with us Aussies, for every one guy who’s digging there’s got to be five standing around having a smoko.’"
"‘Well, not that it matters, but he said to me he still reckons you’re the most beautiful woman in the world.’"
"‘You know, we’ve got nothing to worry about in Australia. Nothing to worry about at all.’"