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
funeral chinese mind
A solemn funeral is inconceivable to the Chinese mind.
laughter men laughing
Even in despair, man must laugh.
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.
serious culinary ifs
If there is anything we are serious about, it is neither religion nor learning, but food.
biblical views monkeys
Instead of holding on to the Biblical view that we are made in the image of God, we come to realize that we are made in the image of the monkey.
loyalty appreciation sweet
What is patriotism but love of the good things we ate in our childhood? I have said elsewhere that the loyalty to Uncle Sam is the loyalty to doughnuts and ham and sweet potatoes and the loyalty to the German Vaterland is the loyalty to Pfannkuchen and Christmas Stollen. As for international understanding, I feel that macaroni has done more for our appreciation of Italy than Mussolini... in food, as in death, we feel the essential brotherhood of mankind.
moments bluebird
Happiness has always seemed like a bluebird, and consists of moments.
creative intense form
Creative work carries with it a form of intense love.
dream heart animal
Reality - Dreams = Animal Being Reality + Dreams = A Heart-Ache (usually called Idealism) Reality + Humor = Realism (also called Conservatism) Dreams - Humor = Fanaticism Dreams + Humor = Fantasy Reality + Dreams + Humor = Wisdom
blessed winter cities
Winter in Peking is insurpassable, unless indeed it is surpassed by the other seasons in that blessed city. For Peking is a city clearly marked by the seasons, each perfect in its own way and each different from the others.
writing use good-writers
He who is afraid to use an "I" in his writing will never make a good writer.
facts world modern
China is the greatest mystifying and stupefying fact in the modern world.
wise philosophy believe
The world I believe is far too serious, and being far too serious ... it has need of a wise and merry philosophy.
philosophy eye average
To me personally the only function of philosophy is to teach us to take life more lightly and gayly than the average businessman does, for no businessman who does not retire at fifty, if he can, is in my eyes a philosopher.