Any good practical philosophy must start out with the recognition of our having a body. Lin Yutang More Quotes by Lin Yutang More Quotes From Lin Yutang Art is both creation and recreation. Lin Yutang recreationcreationart If man be sensible and one fine morning, while he is lying in bed, counts at the tips of his fingers how many things in this life truly will give him enjoyment, invariably he will find food is the first one. Lin Yutang morninglifelying Not until we see the richness of the Hindu mind and its essential spirituality can we understand India Lin Yutang essentialsindiamind The history omankind seems like kite flying; sometimes, when the wind is favorable, we let go the string a little and the kite soars a little higher; sometimes the wind is too rough and we have to lower it a little, and sometimes it gets caught among the tree branches; but to reach the upper strata of pure bliss-ah, perhaps never. Lin Yutang letting-gowindmen No child is born with a really cold heart, and it is only in proportion as we lose that youthful heart that we lose the inner warmth in ourselves. Lin Yutang compassionheartchildren By association with nature's enormities, a man's heart may truly grow big also. Lin Yutang heartmaymen In fact,I believe the reason why the Chinese failed to develop botany and zoology is that the Chinese scholar cannot stare coldly and unemotionally at a fish without immediately thinking of how it tastes in the mouth and wanting to eat it. The reason I don't trust Chinese surgeons is that I am afraid that when a Chinese surgeon cuts up my liver in search of a gall-stone, he may forget about the stone and put my liver in a frying pan. Lin Yutang cuttingbelievethinking And if the reader has no taste for what he reads, all the time is wasted Lin Yutang readertasteifs Alas, our rulers are not gods, but puny, fallible men, like the kings who constantly forget their parts, and we common men should be their prompters. Lin Yutang kingscommonmen The greater success a man has made, the more he fears a climb down. Lin Yutang climbsmademen When we demand liberty of a person as a constitutional right, we are taking away from the officials their liberty to chop off people's heads. Lin Yutang demandlibertypeople Once [China] had a destiny. Once she was a conqueror. Now her greatest destiny seems to be merely to exist, to survive. Lin Yutang conquerorchinadestiny All men and women have passions, natural desires and noble ambitions, and also a conscience; they have sex, hunger, fear, anger, and are subject to sickness, pain, suffering and death. Culture consists of bringing about the expression of these passions and desires in harmony. Lin Yutang passionpainsex A cocktail party is a place where you talk with a person you do not know about a subject you have no interest in. Lin Yutang cocktail-partiescocktailsparty A good traveller is one who does not know where he is going to, and a perfect traveller does not know where he came from. Lin Yutang perfectdoetravel What threatens civilization today is not war, but the changing conception of life values entailed by certain political doctrines. Only by recapturing the dream of human freedom and restoring the importance of the common man's liberties can that undermining threat to modern civilization be averted Lin Yutang dreammenwar Society can exist only on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly what he thinks. Lin Yutang successlifelying
