Skip to content

To the European poet the relation between man and woman is a thing of supreme importance and mystery. To the Chinese, it is something commonplace, obvious—a need of the body, not a satisfaction of the emotions.

— Arthur Waley A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1919)

Another quote →

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)

All Arthur Waley quotes →

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.