"He would die earlier than need be, she thought, looking at his jowls, and then she thought again that it was better to die happy, even though earlier, than to die less happy, even though later."



I oppose pretty much every "fundamental truth" Madame Wu believed about men and women and our place in this world, but Pavilion of Women was so beautifully written I was drawn in despite this disagreement.

"Her soul had outstripped her life. It had gone out far beyond the four walls within which her body lived. It roamed the world, and reached into the past and climbed toward the future, and her many thoughts played about that constant voyaging."