187 Quotes by Lin Yutang

Is it not our weakness that makes our strength?

When anyone announces that he is going to speak his mind freely, everyone is frightened. This shows that there is no such thing as freedom of speech. No one can afford to let his neighbors know what he is thinking about them. Society can exist only on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly what he thinks.

The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have, and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach.

I am sure that the heart can shake a throne. It is the wholeness of love that accomplishes great things in this universe.

There seems to be a philosophic contradiction between being busy and being wise. Those who are wise won't be busy, and those who are too busy can't be wise. The wisest man therefore is he who loafs most gracefully.

Humanism and the spirit of reasonableness are associated with the sense of humor and the sense of proportion and rule out fanaticism of all sorts.

China is the greatest mystifying and stupefying fact in the modern world.