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Grandfather, when you saw the tiger were you scared? Bad people scare me, not tigers.
Grandfather, have you ever run into bad people?
There aren’t many tigers but lots of bad people, only you can’t shoot people.

— Gao Xingjian Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather (2005)

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More quotes by Gao Xingjian

Life is probably a tangle of love and hate permanently knotted together.

Soul Mountain (1989)

When God talks to humans he doesn’t want humans to hear his voice.

Soul Mountain (1989)

Life is fragile, yet to obstinately struggle is natural.

Soul Mountain (1989)

The sand murmurs that it wants to swallow everything.

Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather (2005)

Body odour (known also as scent of the immortals) is a disgusting condition with an awful, nauseating smell.

Soul Mountain (1989)

All Gao Xingjian quotes →

Attribution

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