Art is both creation and recreation. Of the two ideas, I think art as recreation or as sheer play of the human spirit is more important.

Once Confucius was walking on the mountains and he came across a woman weeping by a grave. He asked the woman what here sorrow was, and she replied, We are a family of hunters. My father was eaten by a tiger. My husband was bitten by a tiger and died. And now my only son! Why don't you move down and live in the valley? Why do you continue to live up here? asked Confucius. And the woman replied, But sir, there are no tax collectors here! Confucius added to his disciples, You see, a bad government is more to be feared than tigers.

There is nothing more beautiful in this world than a healthy, wise old man.

The only test of a soul's salvation is its inward happiness.

The history omankind seems like kite flying; sometimes, when the wind is favorable, we let go the string a little and the kite soars a little higher; sometimes the wind is too rough and we have to lower it a little, and sometimes it gets caught among the tree branches; but to reach the upper strata of pure bliss-ah, perhaps never.

A cocktail party is a place where you talk with a person you do not know about a subject you have no interest in.

Art is both creation and recreation. Of the two ideas, I think art as recreation or as sheer play of the human spirit is more important.