Jimmy O. Yang Quotes

Had I not made it big, my family would have told me to recheck my decision. Now that I am successful, there is no way. They have to accept it gracefully.

I once won a second prize in a history concert. My parents came to the ceremony. Somebody else had won the prize for best all-around student. Afterwards my father said to me, 'Never, ever disgrace me like that again.' When I tell my Western friends, they are aghast. But I adore my father. It didn't knock my self-esteem at all.

Even when I was doing well in acting, my dad would say, 'You can still go back to dental school.' But since I've been on '90210,' I haven't heard that.

My mother turned into a professional widow. She couldn't understand why I wanted to be an engineer; she thought I should be a chicken farmer.

To my father, business was the highest calling, but to my mother, medicine was the top profession.

My father believed a real man didn't read, and my parents hoped I'd get some sense and find a job in insurance.

I went to college as an economics major because that was the easiest major that could still please your Asian parents, and then, much to their dismay, I became a stand-up comedian.

In my family, women rarely go out with their heads uncovered, so there was considerable opposition regarding my choice of career.

My dad is this typical orthodox, narrow-minded Punjabi man in front of whom you can't even utter the word called 'boyfriend.'

I have a friend called James who is in his 40s and he's still not allowed to swear in front of his mum. I find it strange that you can't be yourself and be open with the one person who brought you into this world.

Only two kinds of daughters, she shouted in Chinese. Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!

I wanted to be a good kid, and I wanted to please my parents.

Til the day I didn't play under-19 World Cup, nobody ever celebrated my birthday. And the moment I played for Indian team, my family got excited and ordered and cut a cake for me in front of 40-50 family members.

I liked the fact that my father had a lot of expectations from my brother. I probably wanted to be that person who he could be proud of.

Now, I'm ahead of my father. He got other prizes... But he did not get a Nobel Prize.

I was raised in a very Middle Eastern household, and modesty was very important, and dressing to not be desirable or provocative was very important.

I was supposed to go to Northwestern and become a dental hygienist, get married, have babies. My father was very against me being in show business. Usually in Chinese culture, education is the most highly valued.

I needed to prove to myself - to the manager, to the fans, even to my mum and dad - that I'm not just an average player.

I have so much respect for when my parents did. They did not raise me talking about money and I would have disappointed them if I went to China.

If you want your kid in the business, ask them if that's what they want. Don't be weird about it. There's a lot of pressure out there. Your child may fail. A lot of it has to do with chance, and it may not work out the way you or your child expects. You have to understand that ahead of time.

Like, in Asian culture, you have to be down with the family. You have to be down with all the crazy traditional or non-traditional things we do.

I think the whole 'tiger mom' thing is a very common trope. People like to show Asian moms giving pressure, but they don't really show the love that comes with it.

What is one China? You have to tell me what one China looks like. If a girl is to marry into another family, you have to tell her what that family is like.

As an African, there are certain professions your family want you to do or are willing to sign off. Being in the medical professional, as a doctor, pharmacist, a nurse, or being an engineer - those are the only professions allowed!

If I refused to get married, my parents would be brokenhearted and confused. Like any child close to her parents, I could not watch them suffer.