In fact,I believe the reason why the Chinese failed to develop botany and zoology is that the Chinese scholar cannot stare coldly and unemotionally at a fish without immediately thinking of how it tastes in the mouth and wanting to eat it. The reason I don't trust Chinese surgeons is that I am afraid that when a Chinese surgeon cuts up my liver in search of a gall-stone, he may forget about the stone and put my liver in a frying pan.
Lin YutangIf there is anything we are serious about, it is neither religion nor learning, but food.
Lin YutangThere is no proper time and place for reading. When the mood for reading comes, one can read anywhere
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 YutangWhat 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 Yutang