24 Quotes by Barry Hughart

Don't be ashamed of reliving your childhood, Ox, because all of us must do it now and then to maintain our sanity.

Occasionally a moderately intelligent thought misses a turn and accidentally enters my mind

A fool will study for twenty or thirty years and learn how to do something, but a wise man will study for twenty or thirty minutes and become an expert. In this world, it isn't ability that counts, but authority.

Master Li, how are we going to murder a man who laughs at axes?" I asked.We are going to experiment, dear boy. Our first order of business will be to find a deranged alchemist, which should not be very difficult. China," said Master Li, "is overstocked with deranged alchemists.

To cherish perfection is to commit creative suicide, and every true artist knows that a masterpiece is an accident that should be burned.

Little girls have large maternal instincts, and they take the Feast of Hungry Ghosts very seriously, and they were making their rounds with small lanterns made from candles inside rolled lotus and sage leaves. I could feel ghosts all around us, moving toward the warmth of the sweet singing voices: You are not alone, the girls sang, you are not forgotten, we care and understand, our own lives are but a candle flame from yours.

Begin at the beginning as you understood it, proceed through the middle, continue to the end, and then stop," said Master Li, and he sauntered out to get drunk....

It was quite a shock for me to discover that crime was so easy that it was boring. I reluctantly turned to scholarship.

I have decided that the problem with poetic justice is that it never knows when to stop.