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Quotes from The Importance of Living — Lin Yutang

1895–1976 China

← All quotes by Lin Yutang

39 quotes

There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.

The Importance of Living (1937)

By association with nature's enormities, a man's heart may truly grow big also.

The Importance of Living (1937)

A man who has to be punctually at a certain place at five o'clock has the whole afternoon from one to five ruined for him already.

The Importance of Living (1937)

The wise man reads both books and life itself.

The Importance of Living (1937)

Such religion as there can be in modern life, every individual will have to salvage from the churches for himself.

The Importance of Living (1937)

Putting human affairs in exact formulas shows in itself a lack of the sense of humor and therefore a lack of wisdom.

The Importance of Living (1937)

It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action.

The Importance of Living (1937)

He who perceives death perceives a sense of the human comedy, and quickly becomes a poet.

The Importance of Living (1937)

When the mirror meets with an ugly woman, when a rare ink-stone finds a vulgar owner, and when a good sword is in the hands of a common general, there is utterly nothing to be done about it.

The Importance of Living (1937)

It is important that man dreams, but it is perhaps equally important that he can laugh at his own dreams.

The Importance of Living (1937)

A man may own a thousand acres of land, and yet he still sleeps upon a bed of five feet.

The Importance of Living (1937)

The world I believe is far too serious, and being far too serious, is it has need of a wise and merry philosophy.

The Importance of Living (1937)

A good traveler is one who does not know where he is going to, and a perfect traveler does not know where he came from.

The Importance of Living (1937)

True peace of mind comes from accepting the worst.

The Importance of Living (1937)

That is a final fact of my inner consciousness, and for no religion could I deny its truth.

The Importance of Living (1937)

Those who are wise won't be busy, and those who are too busy can't be wise.

The Importance of Living (1937)

Instead of holding on to the Biblical view that we are made in the image of God, we come to realize that we are made in the image of the monkey.

The Importance of Living (1937)

I am doing my best to glorify the scamp or vagabond.

The Importance of Living (1937)

The scamp will be the last and most formidable enemy of dictatorships. He will be the champion of human dignity and individual freedom, and will be the last to be conquered. All modern civilization depends entirely upon him.

The Importance of Living (1937)

The greatest ideal that man can aspire to is not to be a show-case of virtue, but just to be a genial, likable and reasonable human being.

The Importance of Living (1937)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Lin Yutang (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.