Lin Yutang Quotes

Besides 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 Yutang

Those who are wise won't be busy, and those who are too busy can't be wise.

~ Lin Yutang

The man who has not the habit of reading is imprisoned in his immediate world, in respect to time and space. His life falls into a set routine; he is limited to contact and conversation with a few friends and acquaintances, and he sees only what happens in his immediate neighbourhood. From this prison there is no escape. But the moment he takes up a book, he immediately enters a different world, and if it is a good book, he is immediately put in touch with one of the best talkers of the world. This talker leads him on and carries him into a different country or a different age, or unburdens to him some of his personal regrets, or discusses with him some special line or aspect of life that the reader knows nothing about. An ancient author puts him in communion with a dead spirit of long ago, and as he reads along, he begins to imagine what the ancient author looked like and what type of person he was.

~ Lin Yutang

If one's bowels move, one is happy, and if they don't move, one is unhappy. That is all there is to it.

~ Lin Yutang

When Small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.

~ Lin Yutang

A good traveler is one who who does not know where he is going to , and a perfect traveler does not know where he came from.

~ Lin Yutang

Reading books in one's youth is like looking at the moon through a crevice, reading books in middle age is like looking at the moon in one's courtyard, and reading books in old age is like looking at the moon on an open terrace.

~ Lin Yutang

What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?

~ Lin Yutang

For a Westerner, it is usually sufficient for a proposition to be logically sound. For a Chinese it is not sufficient that a proposition be logically correct, but it must be at the same time in accord with human nature.

~ Lin Yutang

Reality - Dreams = Animal BeingReality + Dreams = A Heart-Ache (usually called Idealism)Reality + Humor = Realism (also called Conservatism)Dreams - Humor = FanaticismDreams + Humor = FantasyReality + Dreams + Humor = Wisdom

~ Lin Yutang

Happiness for me is largely a matter of digestion.

~ Lin Yutang

In contrast to logic, there is common sense, or still better, the Spirit of Reasonableness.

~ Lin Yutang

Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do than what one can do.

~ Lin Yutang

A solemn funeral is inconceivable to the Chinese mind.

~ Lin Yutang

Peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst.

~ Lin Yutang

Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do than what one can do.

~ Lin Yutang

Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do than what one can do.

~ Lin Yutang

Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do than what one can.

~ Lin Yutang

Society can only exist on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly what he thinks.

~ Lin Yutang

This I conceive to be the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought.

~ Lin Yutang

Our lives are not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of our cooks.

~ Lin Yutang

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.

~ Lin Yutang

A 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 Yutang