Lin Yutang Quotes
10 October 1895 – March 26, 1976
More Lin Yutang Quotes
All women's dresses, in every age and country, are merely variations on the eternal struggle between the admitted desire to dress and the unadmitted desire to undress.
Lin Yutang— In Vogue, as quoted by The Reader's digest, Vol. 30-31 (1937), p. 69
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— As quoted in Pearls of Wisdom: A Harvest of Quotations From All Ages (1987) by Jerome Agel and Walter D. Glanze, p. 46
When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.
Lin Yutang— As quoted in Hard-to-Solve Cryptograms (2001) by Derrick Niederman, p. 96
When there are too many policemen, there can be no liberty. When there are too many soldiers, there can be no peace. When there are too many lawyers, there can be no justice.
Lin Yutang— As quoted in The World's Funniest Laws (2005) by James Alexander, p. 6 ISBN 1905102100
It is not when he is working in his office but when he is lying idly on the sand that his soul utters, "Life is beautiful."
Lin Yutang— Ch. I : The Awakening, p. 2
While in the West, the insane are so many that they are put in an asylum, in China the insane are so unusual that we worship them, as anybody who has a knowledge of Chinese literature will testify.
Lin Yutang— Ch. I : The Awakening, p. 3
A vague uncritical idealism always lends itself to ridicule and too much of it might be a danger to mankind, leading it round in a futile wild-goose chase for imaginary ideals.
Lin Yutang— Ch. I : The Awakening
I distrust all dead and mechanical formulas for expressing anything connected with human affairs and human personalities. Putting human affairs in exact formulas shows in itself a lack of the sense of humor and therefore a lack of wisdom.
Lin Yutang— Ch. I : The Awakening
It 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 Yutang— Ch. I : The Awakening
The world I believe is far too serious, and being far too serious, is it has need of a wise and merry philosophy.
Lin Yutang— Ch. I : The Awakening
To me personally the only function of philosophy is to teach us to take life more lightly and gayly than the average businessman does, for no businessman who does not retire at fifty, if he can, is in my eyes a philosopher.
Lin Yutang— Ch. I : The Awakening
The three great American vices seem to be efficiency, punctuality, and the desire for achievement and success. They are the things that make the Americans so unhappy and so nervous.
Lin Yutang— p. 162 (The Importance of Living (1937))
A man who has to be punctually at a certain place at five o'clock has the whole afternoon from one to five ruined for him already.
Lin Yutang— p. 163 (The Importance of Living (1937))
The Chinese do not draw any distinction between food and medicine.
Lin Yutang— Ch. IX : The Enjoyment of Living
When there are too many policemen, there can be no individual liberty, when there are too many lawyers, there can be no justice, and when there are too many soldiers, there can be no peace.
Lin Yutang— Lin Yutang, Between Tears and Laughter (1943), p. 66.
Instead of holding on to the Biblical view that we are made in the image of God, we come to realize that we are made in the image of the monkey.
Lin Yutang— Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living, (1937), p. 36
Instead of holding on to the Biblical view that we are made in the image of God, we come to realize that we are made in the image of the monkey...
Lin Yutang— The Importance of Living (1937) p. 36
