Great Throughts Treasury

"I naturally believe there will be a future, but I do not waste my time imagining its radiant beauty… It seems tome that we ought to think first about the present. Even if the present is desperately dark, I do not wish to leave it. Will tomorrow be free from darkness? We’ll talk about that tomorrow."

"If we want to work out a policy for the present, we must examine the past and prepare for the future, discard the material and elevate the spirit, rely on the individual and exclude the mass."

"If there are still men who really want to live in this world, they should first dare to speak out, to laugh, to cry, to be angry, to accuse, to fight – that they may at least cleanse this accursed place of its accursed atmosphere!"

"Revolution is a bitter thing, mixed with filth and blood, not as lovely or perfect as the poets think. It is eminently down to earth, involving many humble, tiresome tasks, not so romantic as the poets think… So it is easy for all who have romantic dreams about revolution to become disillusioned on closer acquaintance, when a revolution is actually carried out."

"When a man feels the pangs of loneliness, he is able to create. As soon as he reaches detachment, he ceases to create, for he loves no more. Every creation originates in love."

"The most painful thing in life is to wake from a dream and find no way out. Dreamers are fortunate people. If no way out can be seen, the important thing is not to awaken the sleepers."

"Trust only him who doubts."

"Young people, what need have you to follow the trendy slogans of these intellectual leaders? You ought better to gather some comrades and pool together all you energies; go forward in one common impetus, following what appears to be the path of survival. All together you will never be short of strength. If you encounter a deep forest, you can always hack your way through; you can open up the wilderness; you can dig wells in the desert. Why should you stick to old ruts and beg for guidance of these wretched guides?"

"I thought: hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. It is just like roads across the earth. For actually the earth had no roads to begin with, but when many men pass one way, a road is made."

"To be suspicious is not a fault. To be suspicious all the time without coming to a conclusion is the defect."

"Although bedbugs are unpleasant when they suck your blood, at least they bite you without a word, which is quite straightforward and frank. Mosquitoes are different. Of course, their method of piercing the skin may be considered fairly thoroughgoing; but before biting, they insist on making a long speech, which is irritating. If they are expounding on the reasons that make it right for them to feed on human blood, that is even more irritating. I am glad I do not know their language."

"A woman has so many parts to her body, life is very hard indeed."

"As long as there shall be stones, the seeds of fire will not die."

"Creation, even when it is a mere outpouring from the heart, wishes to find a public. By definition, creation is sociable. Yet it can be satisfied with merely one single reader: an old friend, a lover."

"Hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. It is just like roads across the earth. For actually the earth had no roads to begin with, but when many men pass one way, a road is made."

"Discontent is the wheel that moves people forward."

"Even if something?s tough, you still have to do it. The more tough something is, the more worthwhile it?s likely to be. Reform is never easy, you only start to succeed when those who mocked you approve of you."

"Hope can be neither affirmed nor denied. Hope is like a path in the countryside: originally there was no path-yet, as people are walking all the time in the same spot, a way appears."

"For all of ignorant people of a nation, even if their body is somehow strong, somehow grand, even then they can only make meaningless displays [of this "strength"]. [As for] the multitude of constituents and observers, however many may die from [this] sickness, this is [still] not to be considered as unfortunate."

"Great buildings are built one brick and one piece of wood at a time. Whenever I engage in a seemingly trivial act, I remind myself of this."

"I felt that if a man's proposals met with approval, it should encourage him; if they met with opposition, it should make him fight back; but the real tragedy for him was to lift up his voice among the living and meet with no response neither approval nor opposition just as if he were left helpless in a boundless desert."

"Hope is a path on the mountainside. At first there is no path. But then there are people passing that way. And there is a path."

"If men refuse to be kindled, sparks can only burn themselves out, just as paper images and carriages burn out on the street during funerals."

"Is not silent in death, in the silence broke."

"Soviet Union is under dictatorship of the proletariat, the intelligentsia class is going to be starved to death."... a well- known reporter had so warned me. Yes, I am afraid I might lost some sleep. But then, dictatorship of the proletariat (at present), isn't it for the fourth coming of the classless society? As long as you do not murder it, naturally it's success will arrive soon, the elimination of classes will arrive soon, then no one will be "starved to death"....But now, the imperialists and their running dogs, still trying to tell us the Soviet Union's shortcomings, as if they really wish that Soviet Union would become heaven overnight, and all of its people would enjoy life. Now, it turns out to be like that, it (imperialist) is disappointed, and feel uneasy.....This is really the tears of the devil."

"It is in the nature of things that some people should be unlucky enough to get their heads chopped off."

"Lies written in ink cannot disguise facts written in blood."

"The most horrible thing is not a government that stages public executions, but a government that secretly disposes of its victims."

"To protect myself from the rear, I have to stand slantwise."

"There?s no such thing as natural genius. I put my effort into work while others put theirs into drinking coffee."

"When a great man has become petrified, and everyone begins to proclaim his greatness, he has already turned into a puppet."

"Where are now the warriors of the world of the spirit? Where are those who raise their voices for truth, who lead us to goodness, beauty, strength and health? Where are those who utter heartwarming words, who will lead us out of the wilderness? Our homes are gone and the nation is destroyed, yet we have no Jeremiah crying out his last sad song to the world and to posterity."

"When the Chinese suspect someone of being a potential troublemaker, they always resort to one of two methods: they crush him, or they hoist him on a pedestal."

"Whoever thinks he is objective must already be half drunk."

"When you talk with famous scholars, the best thing is to pretend that occasionally you do not quite understand them. If you understand too little, you will be despised; if you understand too much, you will be disliked; if you just fail occasionally to understand them, you will suit each other very well."

"You cannot be realized wishes just to say it cannot be said for realized; It's like the roads in the ground - in fact, not in the ground at the beginning roads - but while many people walking in one direction .. Make way"

"Women have a mother-nature and a daughter-nature; there are no women with a wife-nature. The quality of wife is an acquired character; it is a combination of mother and daughter."

"With the weight of four thousand years of cannibalism bearing down upon me, even if I was once innocent how can I now face real humans?"