What threatens civilization today is not war, but the changing conception of life values entailed by certain political doctrines. Only by recapturing the dream of human freedom and restoring the importance of the common man's liberties can that undermining threat to modern civilization be averted
Lin YutangThere is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.
Lin YutangNo one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.
Lin YutangAll men and women have passions, natural desires and noble ambitions, and also a conscience; they have sex, hunger, fear, anger, and are subject to sickness, pain, suffering and death. Culture consists of bringing about the expression of these passions and desires in harmony.
Lin YutangI am put on my best behavior, which means the same thing as the most uncomfortable behavior.
Lin YutangIt is important that man dreams, but it is perhaps equally important that he can laugh at his own dreams.
Lin YutangWe all have obligations and duties toward our fellow men. But it does seem curious enough that in modern neurotic society, men's energies are consumed in making a living and rarely in living itself. It takes a lot of courage for a man to declare, with clarity and simplicity, that the purpose of life is to enjoy it.
Lin YutangA good traveller is one who does not know where he is going to, and a perfect traveller does not know where he came from.
Lin YutangOnly he who handles his ideas lightly is master of his ideas, and only he who is master of his ideas is not enslaved by them.
Lin YutangHowever vague they are, dreams have a way of concealing themselves and leave us no peace until they are translated into reality, like seeds germinating underground, sure to sprout in their search for the sunlight.
Lin YutangIt is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action.
Lin YutangIf there is anything we are serious about, it is neither religion nor learning, but food.
Lin YutangReality - Dreams = Animal Being Reality + Dreams = A Heart-Ache (usually called Idealism) Reality + Humor = Realism (also called Conservatism) Dreams - Humor = Fanaticism Dreams + Humor = Fantasy Reality + Dreams + Humor = Wisdom
Lin YutangThis I conceive to be the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought.
Lin YutangIndia was China's teacher in religion and imaginative literature, and the world's teacher in trignometry, quandratic equations, grammar, phonetics, Arabian Nights, animal fables, chess, as well as in philosophy, and that she inspired Boccaccio, Goethe, Herder, Schopenhauer, Emerson, and probably also old Aesop.
Lin YutangThere is a great probability that our loss of capacity for enjoying the positive joys of life is largely due to the decreased sensibility of our senses and our lack of full use of them. All human happiness is sensuous happiness.
Lin YutangI feel, like all modern Americans, no consciousness of sin and simply do not believe in it. All I know is that if God loves me only half as much as my mother does, he will not send me to Hell. That is a final fact of my inner consciousness, and for no religion could I deny its truth.
Lin YutangBusiness men who are busy the whole day and immediately go to bed after supper, snoring like cows, are not likely to contribute anything to culture.
Lin YutangA tendency to fly too straight at a goal, instead of circling around it, often carries one too far.
Lin YutangBesides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
Lin YutangIn contrast to logic, there is common sense, or still better, the Spirit of Reasonableness.
Lin YutangLet him cry whoever feels like crying, for we were animals before we became reasoning beings, and the shedding of a tear, whether of forgiveness or of pity or of sheer delight at beauty, will do him a lot of good.
Lin YutangIt is that unoccupied space which makes a room habitable, as it is our leisure hours which make life endurable.
Lin YutangI do not think that any civilization can be called complete until it has progressed from sophistication to unsophistication, and made a conscious return to simplicity of thinking and living.
Lin YutangWe (the Chinese) eat food for its texture, the elastic or crisp effect it has on our teeth, as well as for fragrance, flavor and color.
Lin YutangTo glorify the past and paint the future is easy, to survey the present and emerge with some light and understanding is difficult.
Lin YutangProbably the difference between man and the monkeys is that the monkeys are merely bored, while man has boredom plus imagination.
Lin YutangWe should not expect people to be good, but should make it impossible for them to be bad.
Lin YutangOf all the unhappy people in the world, the unhappiest are those who have not found something they want to do.
Lin YutangSo much of unhappiness, it seems to me, is due to nerves; and bad nerves are the result of having nothing to do, or doing a thing badly, unsuccessfully or incompetently. Of all the unhappy people in the world, the unhappiest are those who have not found something they want to do. True happiness comes to those who do their work well, followed by a refreshing period of rest. True happiness comes from the right amount of work for the day.
Lin Yutang