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'To hope for [immortality],' said the Patriarch, 'would be like trying to fish the moon out of the water.'
'There you go again!' said Monkey. 'What pray do you mean by fishing the moon out of the water?'
'When the moon is in the sky,' said the Patriarch, 'it is reflected in the water. It looks just like a real thing, but if you try to catch hold of it, you find it is only an illusion.'

— Arthur Waley Monkey: Folk Novel of China (1942)

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More quotes by Arthur Waley

Though the snow-drifts of Yoshino were heaped across his path, doubt not that whither his heart is set, his footsteps shall tread out their way.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

Ceaseless as the interminable voices of the bell-cricket, all night till dawn my tears flow.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

It is in general the unexplored that attracts us.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

'Nothing in the world is difficult,' said the Patriarch, 'it is only our own thoughts that make things seem so.'

Monkey: Folk Novel of China (1942)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Arthur Waley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.