Skip to content

I am no hero
In an age without heroes
I just want to be a man

— Bei Dao The August Sleepwalker (1990)

Another quote →

Topics

Heroes

More quotes by Bei Dao

Freedom is nothing but the distance
between the hunter and the hunted

The August Sleepwalker (1990)

Many languages fly around the world
producing sparks when they collide
sometimes of hate
sometimes of love

I will not kneel on the ground
Allowing the executioners to look tall
The better to obstruct the wind of freedom

The August Sleepwalker (1990)

Let me tell you, world,
I—do—not—believe!
If a thousand challengers lie beneath your feet,
Count me as number one thousand and one. I don't believe the sky is blue:
I don't believe in thunder's echoes;
I don't believe that dreams are false:
I don't believe that death has no revenge.

The August Sleepwalker (1990)

a perpetual stranger
am I to the world
I don't understand its language
my silence it can't comprehend

The August Sleepwalker (1990)

All Bei Dao quotes →

You may also like

Heroing is one of the shortest-lived professions there is.

Will Rogers

The grandest of heroic deeds are those which are performed within four walls and in domestic privacy.

Jean Paul Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

The blood of the heroes is closer to God than the ink of the philosophers and the prayers of the faithful.

Julius Evola Revolt Against the Modern World (1934)

Heroism is a myth you tell idealistic young people—specifically when you want them to go bleed for you.

Brandon Sanderson Rhythm of War (2020)

Attribution

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