Lin Yutang

When there are too many policemen, there can be no . When there are too many soldiers, there can be no . When there are too many , there can be no .

— Lin Yutang men

I am here to speak on . It is a great topic, and I am going to make myasas possible. But you know that this cannot be done, for when anyone announces that he is going to speak his mind freely, everyone is . This shows that there is no such thing as true freedom of speech. No one can afford to let his neighbors know what he is thinking about them.can exist only on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly what he thinks.

— Lin Yutang freedom

All women's dresses, in every age and country, are merely variations on thestruggle between the admittedto dress and the unadmitted desire to undress.

— Lin Yutang women

Besides the of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. Theofconsists in the elimination of non-essentials.

— Lin Yutang art

When small men begin to cast big , it means that theis about to set.

— Lin Yutang men

I like , but it is too young. I like , but it is too . So I like best of all , because its leaves are a little yellow, its tone mellower, its colours richer, and it is tinged a little withand a premonition of . Its golden richness speaks not of theof spring, nor of theof summer, but of the mellowness and of approaching age. It knows the limitations ofand is . From aof those limitations and its richness ofemerges a symphony of colours, richer than all, its green speaking of life and , its orange speaking of golden content and its purple of resignation and death.

— Lin Yutang life

I rather despise claims to objectivity in ; the point of view is the thing.

— Lin Yutang

It is not when he is working in his office but when he is lying idly on the sand that hisutters, " is ."

— Lin Yutang work

Putting human affairs in exact formulas shows in itself a lack of theofand therefore a lack of .

— Lin Yutang self

Thewill be the last and most formidableof . He will be the champion of and, and will be the last to be conquered. All moderndepends entirely upon him.

— Lin Yutang will

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

— Lin Yutang read

When the mirror meets with an ugly , when a rare ink-stone finds a vulgar owner, and when a is in the hands of a common general, there is utterlyto be done about it.

— Lin Yutang wit

By association with 's enormities, a 'smay truly also.

— Lin Yutang wit

This is a personal testimony, a testimony of my own experience ofand . It is not intended to be objective and makes no claim to establish eternal . In fact I rather despise claims to objectivity in ; the point of view is the thing.

— Lin Yutang experience

While in the West, the insane are so many that they are put in an asylum, in China the insane are so unusual that we worship them, as anybody who has aof Chinese literature will testify.

— Lin Yutang literature

A vague uncriticalalways lends itself to ridicule and too much of it might be ato , leading it round in a futile wild-goose chase for imaginary ideals.

— Lin Yutang self

I distrust alland mechanical formulas for expressing anything connected withaffairs and human personalities. Putting human affairs in exact formulas shows in itself a lack of theofand therefore a lack of .

— Lin Yutang trust

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

— Lin Yutang believe

Myin consists in the belief that man is the greateston . Human dignity must be associated with the idea of a scamp and not with that of an obedient, disciplined and regimented soldier.

— Lin Yutang belief

I am doing my best totheor vagabond. II shall succeed. For things are not soas they sometimes seem. In this present age of threats toand individual , probably only the scamp and theof the scamp alone will save us from being lost in serially numbered units in the masses of disciplined, obedient, regimented and uniformed coolies. The scamp will be the last and most formidableof . He will be the champion of and, and will be the last to be conquered. All moderndepends entirely upon him.

— Lin Yutang time

TheI believe is far too serious, and being far too serious, is it has need of aand merry .

— Lin Yutang believe

To me personally the only function of philosophy is to teach us to take life more lightly and gayly than the average businessman does, for no businessman who does not retire at fifty, if he can, is in my eyes a philosopher.

— Lin Yutang life

A reasonable naturalist then settles down to thiswith a sort of animal satisfaction. As Chinese illiterate women put it, "Others gaveto us and we give birth to others. What else are we to do?".... Life becomes a biological procession and the very question of immortality is sidetracked. For that is the exact feeling of a Chinese grandfather holding his grandchild by the hand and going to the shops to buy some candy, with the thought that in five or ten years he will be returning to his grave or to his ancestors. The best that we can hope for in this life is that we shall not have sons and grandsons of whom we need to be ashamed.

— Lin Yutang life

One can learn such a lot and enjoy such a lot in seventy years, and three generations is a long, long time to see human follies and acquire human wisdom. Anyone who is wise and has lived long enough to witness the changes of fashion and morals and politics through the rise and fall of three generations should be perfectly satisfied to rise from his seat and go away saying, "It was ashow," when the curtain falls.

— Lin Yutang wisdom

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

— Lin Yutang age

How many of us are able to distinguish between the odors of noon and midnight, or of winter and summer, or of a windy spell and a still one? If man is so generally lessin the cities than in the country, it is because all these variations and nuances of sight and smell and sound are less clearly marked and lost in the general monotony of gray walls and cement pavements.

— Lin Yutang men

The three great American vices seem to be efficiency, punctuality, and the desire for achievement and success. They are the things that make the Americans so unhappy and so nervous.

— Lin Yutang success

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.

— Lin Yutang man

If the early Chinese people had any chivalry, it was manifested not toward women and children, but toward old people. That feeling of chivalry found clear expression inin some such saying as, "The people with gray hair should not be seen carrying burdens on the street," which was expressed as the final goal of good government.

— Lin Yutang war

The Chinese do not draw any distinction between food and medicine.

— Lin Yutang food

By association with nature's enormities, a man'smay truly grow big also. There is a way of looking upon a landscape as a moving picture and being satisfied with nothing less big as a moving picture, a way of looking upon tropic clouds over the horizon as the backdrop of a stage and being satisfied with nothing less big as a backdrop, a way of looking upon the mountain forests as a private garden and being satisfied with nothing less as a private garden, a way of listening to the roaring waves as a concert and being satisfied with nothing less as a concert, and a way of looking upon the mountain breeze as an air-cooling system and being satisfied with nothing less as an air-cooling system. So do we become big, even as the earth and firmaments are big. Like the "Big Man" described by Yuan Tsi (A.D. 210-263), one of China's first romanticists, we "live in heaven and earth as our house."

— Lin Yutang art

When the mirror meets with an ugly woman, when a rare ink-stone finds a vulgar owner, and when a is in the hands of a common general, there is utterlyto be done about it.

— Lin Yutang man

Suchas there can be in modern life, everywill have to salvage from the churches for himself.

— Lin Yutang life

I feel, like all modern Americans, no consciousness ofand simply do not believe in it. All I know is that if me only half as much as mydoes, he will not send me to . That is a finalof my inner , and for nocould I deny its .

— Lin Yutang believe

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