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
sex pain ambition
All men and women have passions, natural desires and noble ambitions, and also a conscience; they have sex, hunger, fear, anger, and are subject to sickness, pain, suffering and death. Culture consists of bringing about the expression of these passions and desires in harmony.
men civilization ideas
The most bewildering thing about man is his idea of work and the amount of work he imposes upon himself, or civilization has imposed upon him. All nature loafs, while man alone works for a living.
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.
reading mood proper-time
There is no proper time and place for reading. When the mood for reading comes, one can read anywhere
taste reader ifs
And if the reader has no taste for what he reads, all the time is wasted
believe cutting thinking
In fact,I believe the reason why the Chinese failed to develop botany and zoology is that the Chinese scholar cannot stare coldly and unemotionally at a fish without immediately thinking of how it tastes in the mouth and wanting to eat it. The reason I don't trust Chinese surgeons is that I am afraid that when a Chinese surgeon cuts up my liver in search of a gall-stone, he may forget about the stone and put my liver in a frying pan.
book world given
There are no books in this world that everybody must read, but only books that a person must read at a certain time in a given place under given circumstances and at a given period of his life.
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.
life success lying
Society can exist only on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly what he thinks.
food color chinese
We (the Chinese) eat food for its texture, the elastic or crisp effect it has on our teeth, as well as for fragrance, flavor and color.
ideals greater
The fonder you are of your ideals, the greater your heartbreaks.
appreciation understanding done
As for international understanding, I feel that macaroni has done more for our appreciation of Italy than Mussolini.
son needs life-is
The best that we can hope for in this life is that we shall not have sons and grandsons of whom we need to be ashamed.
funeral chinese mind
A solemn funeral is inconceivable to the Chinese mind.