Lu Xun
Author
1881-09-25
Quotes by Lu Xun
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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.
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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.
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To be suspicious is not a fault. To be suspicious all the time without coming to a conclusion is the defect.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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The most painful thing in life is to wake up 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.
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When a great man has become petrified, and everyone begins to proclaim his greatness, he has already turned into a puppet.
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I naturally believe there will be a future, but I do not waste my time imagining its radiant beauty. ... It seems to me 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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It is in the nature of things that some people should be unlucky enough to get their heads chopped off.
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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.
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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.
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Whoever thinks he is objective must already be half drunk.
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As long as there shall be stones, the seeds of fire will not die.
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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.
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To protect myself from the rear, I have to stand slantwise.
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