Lin Yutang
Lin Yutang
Lin Yutangwas a Chinese writer, translator, linguist and inventor. His informal but polished style in both Chinese and English made him one of the most influential writers of his generation, and his compilations and translations of classic Chinese texts into English were bestsellers in the West...
NationalityChinese
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth10 October 1895
CountryChina
mind curious humans
The human mind is a curious thing. It can take just so much and no more.
ideals greater
The fonder you are of your ideals, the greater your heartbreaks.
mistake men laughing
Everything has its place and time. We men of the nineteen-forties can smile at the mistakes of the nineteen-thirties, and, in turn, the men of the nineteen-fifties will laugh at the mistakes of the nineteen-forties. It is this historical perspective that shall save us.
party cocktails cocktail-parties
A cocktail party is a place where you talk with a person you do not know about a subject you have no interest in.
dream war men
What threatens civilization today is not war, but the changing conception of life values entailed by certain political doctrines. Only by recapturing the dream of human freedom and restoring the importance of the common man's liberties can that undermining threat to modern civilization be averted
misunderstood may
Nobody is ever misunderstood at a fireside; he may only be disagreed with.
travel perfect doe
A good traveller is one who does not know where he is going to, and a perfect traveller does not know where he came from.
taste reader ifs
And if the reader has no taste for what he reads, all the time is wasted
kindness believe simple
Today we are afraid of simple words like goodness and mercy and kindness. We don't believe in the good old words because we don't believe in good old values anymore. And that's why the world is sick.
mind india essentials
Not until we see the richness of the Hindu mind and its essential spirituality can we understand India
simplicity depth signs-and-symbols
Simplicity is the outward sign and symbol of depth of thought.
wise men hair
O wise humanity, terribly wise humanity! How inscrutable is the civilization where men toil and work and worry their hair gray to get a living and forget to play!
simple light age
The age calls for simple statements and restatements of simple truths. The prophets of doom are involved, those who would bring light must be clear.
kings men common
Alas, our rulers are not gods, but puny, fallible men, like the kings who constantly forget their parts, and we common men should be their prompters.