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Quote by Lin Yutang

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Lin Yutang
Lin Yutang

Lin Yutang, born on October 10, 1895, in Yongding District, Longyan City, Fujian Province, and died on March 26, 1976. He was a renowned Chinese modern writer, translator, and scholar, known as a 'cultural giant'. Lin Yutang's literary works are characterized by their humor, wit, and elegant language, with representative works including 'Chinatown Days' and 'Laughing and Crying'. more

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“Sometimes it’s a sort of indulgence to think the worst of ourselves. We say, ‘Now I have reached the bottom of the pit, now I can fall no further,’ and it is almost a pleasure to wallow in the darkness. The trouble is, it’s not true. There is no end to the evil in ourselves, just as there is no end to the good. It’s a matter of choice. We struggle to climb, or we struggle to fall. The thing is to discover which way we’re going.”

“There is an inability to sustain the tragic mood, a phoenix quality of the mind. It may be helpful or harmful, it is just a part of the will to survive—yet, also, it has made it possible for us to engage in one weakening war after another. But it is a necessary part of our mechanism that we should be able to cry only for a time over even an ocean of spilt milk—the spectacular must soon become the commonplace if life is to be supportable.”