Quotes from Ha Jin

You strive to have a good heart. But what is a heart? Just a chunk of flesh that a dog can eat.

Life is a journey, and you can't carry everything with you. Only the usable baggage.

A good marriage was full of moments of cats and dogs. It was the uneventful marriage that was headed toward disaster. In a word, the differences between the husband and the wife should only help stabilize their marriage.

summed up his principle of poetic composition this way: "Lotus flowers come out of limpid water, / Natural without any decoration.

relationship. Anyone who resented us being together could tattle on us. The world is never lacking in defenders of morality

At home you could depend on your parents, but in America you are on your own and should make as many friends as you can . . . You don't know who may hold out a helpful hand in your hour of need.

Indifference is the strongest contempt

But the Internet has spoiled everything—my family is able to get hold of me whenever they like. They might as well live nearby.

In the beginning, his holding could calm the babies, but soon they wanted more motion and wouldn't allow their father to sit down, so Lin had to pace back and forth to stop them from crying......At times he was so miserable that he felt like crying together with his sons, but he controlled himself.

Adesso sono ai tuoi piedi, niente più ardore nel mio cuore, le ali spezzate, la bocca che schiuma un rimpianto parole troppo confuse per avere un senso. Questo voglio dirti: Amore, sono tornato a casa

Her words made him realize that his wife must have been lonely when he was away. He hadn't thought she had her own ideas and feelings. More worrisome, she never doubted that they would stay together for the rest of their lives. What a simple-hearted woman! This realization distressed him and foiled his first attempt at a divorce.

Why do people have to live like animals, eating and reproducing, possessed by the instinct for survival? What point is there in having a dozen sons if your own life is miserable and senseless?

Love did not help. The possibility of love only filled him with despondency and languor, as though he was sick in the soul. If only he had never known Manna; if only ehe could get back into his old rut again; if only he could return to an undisturbed, contented life.

The more you move, the stronger you'll grow, not like a tree that can be killed if you uproot it.

Life is a journey, and you can't carry everything with you. Only the usable baggage.

You strive to have a good heart. But what is a heart? Just a chunk of flesh that a dog can eat.

Writing is not a great profession as a lot of writers proclaim. I write because this is something I can do. Another thing—very often I think a lot of writers write because they have failed to do other things. How many writers can't drive? A lot. They're not practical. They are not capable in everyday life.

I work hard, I work very hard. All the books at least 30 revisions.

Once you've done it with him, he won't abandon you. If he really loves you, if he's a man with a heart, he'll follow you wherever you go. If he doesn't, he isn't the man you want, is he?

You said, 'Life is a tragedy, but its meaning lies in how we face the tragedy.

We ate away, reminiscing about our victories over the enemies from different streets and villages and competing with each other in casting curses. A few golden butterflies and dragonflies were fluttering around us. The afternoon air was warm and clean, and the town below us seemed like a green harbor full of white sails.

No, It's hard to uproot yourself and really become yourself in another soil, but it's also an opportunity, another kind of growth.

But most good writers are Don Quixote at heart, and unreasonableness is often a condition of art.

Buddha's words are everywhere, in every sound of the universe.