Quotes from Yu Hua

If literature truly possesses a mysterious power, I think perhaps it is precisely this: that one can read a book by a writer of a different time, a different country, a different race, a different language, and a different culture and there encounter a sensation that is one's very own.

Your life is given to you by your parents. If you don't want to live, you have to ask them first.

It's better to live an ordinary life. If you go on striving for this and that, you'll end up paying with your life.

As the black night descended from the heavens, I knew that in the blink of an eye I would witness the death of the sunset. I saw the exposed and firm chest of the vast earth; its pose was one of calling, of beckoning. And just as a mother beckons her children, so the earth beckoned the coming of night.

No matter how lucky a person is, the moment he decides he wants to die, there's nothing that will keep him alive.

My mother often said, as long as a person is happy at work, then poverty is nothing to be ashamed of.

It is when the suffering of others becomes part of my own experience that I truly know what it is to live and what it is to write. Nothing in the world, perhaps, is so likely to forge a connection between people as pain, because the connection that comes from that source comes from deep in the heart.

It was just as summer arrived that I met an old man named Fugui.

We were fishers of memory waiting on the banks of time and waiting for the past to swallow the date.

At first, writing actually felt the more arduous of the two activities. But in order to reach cultural-center nirvana, I forced myself to continue. I was young then and it was no easy matter to persuade my bottom to maintain such constant intimacy with my chair

She is like a broken pot that's not afraid of shattering, and I'm like a dead pig who no longer minds that the water's coming to a boil

With relief I arrived at memory's peak, and a broader landscape came into view.

You know how men are... always peering into the pot even when they're eating out of the bowl.

V?a nãy anh khóc là c? t??ng Nh?t L?c ?ã ch?t, bây gi? khóc là vì ?ã trông th?y Nh?t L?c v?n còn s?ng…

My emotional state then was cramped and confined, like a room with tightly sealed windows and doors: although love's footsteps could be heard outside the room, I felt they were steps heading somewhere else--until one day when the steps came to a halt and the bell rang.

The residents of the the town are attracted by the words and the pictures on the signs. They know full well the perils posed by overpopulation. Many of them have mastered the use of several types of contraceptives. Now they understand the dangers posed by traffic accidents. They know that even though overpopulation is perilous, the living must do their best to have a good time and avoid being killed in traffic accident.

The timid die of hunger, the bold of overeating.

People fear getting famous just as pigs fear getting fat. Reflecting the observation that fame invites a fall just as a fattened pig invites the butcher.

We survive in adversity and perish in ease and comfort.

Three or four years ago, a city education bureau announced a new measure to raise the quality of local teachers and enable graduating high school seniors to be more competitive in the university entrance examination.

geceleri yata?a uzan?r ama uyuyamazd?m. nefret edecek birsürü ?ey gelirdi akl?ma, ama sonunda yine kendimden nefret ederdim.

Saper vivere vuol dire non dimenticare mai queste quattro regole: non dire parole sbagliate, non dormire nel letto sbagliato, non varcare la soglia sbagliata e non infilare la mano nella tasca sbagliata.

Di colpo privata di due persone, come ce l'avrebbe fatta ad andare avanti questa famiglia? Era come una pentola spezzata: mezza pentola non fa una pentola, mezza famiglia non fa una famiglia.

Chunsheng," gli dissi, "non devi assolutamente fare il pazzo, i morti stessi vorrebbero tornare a vivere, un uomo sano e forte come te non può morire!" Poi aggiunsi: "La vita te l'hanno data tuo padre e tua madre, se non la vuoi più, devi prima chiederlo a loro". "Mio padre e mia madre sono morti da tempo," disse Chunsheng asciugandosi le lacrime. "A maggior ragione, allora, devi vivere e bene, pensaci: hai fatto tante guerre in giro per il mondo, è stato forse facile restare in vita?