Gao Xingjian Quotes

• “You should know that there is little you can seek in this world, that there is no need for you to be so greedy, in the end all you can achieve are memories, hazy, intangible, dreamlike memories which are impossible to articulate. When you try to relate them, there are only sentences, the dregs left from the filter of linguistic structures.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “With the beginning of life, comes the thirst for truth, whereas the ability to lie is gradually acquired in the process of trying to stay alive.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “Young man, nature is not frightening, it's people who are frightening! You just need to get to know nature and it will become friendly. This creature known as man is of course highly intelligent, he's capable of manufacturing almost anything from rumours to test-tube babies and yet he destroys two to three species every day. This is the absurdity of man.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “Only a lunatic would think that art is superior to nature.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “I believe in science but I also believe in fate.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “Men always look differently at women, even if it's not your intention it is wrongly interpreted as such.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “Reality exists only through experience, and it must be personal experience. However, once related, even personal experience becomes a narrative.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “It's in literature that true life can be found. It's under the mask of fiction that you can tell the truth.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “Soul Mountain, the story of one man’s quest for inner peace and freedom.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “لا زلت أعتقد أننى أفهم كل شىء.
  الأشياء تجرى خلفى، هناك دوما عين غريبة تترصدنى،
  الأفضل هو التظاهر بالفهم.
  التظاهر بالفهم،
  فى الحقيقة، إنى لا أفهم شيئاً،
  لا أفهم شيئاً على الإطلاق،
  هكذا الأمر، لا أكثر.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “When a man gets to middle age shouldn’t he look for a peaceful and stable existence, find a not-too-demanding sort of a job, stay in a mediocre position, become a husband and a father, set up a comfortable home, put money in the bank and add to it every month so there’ll be something for old age and a little left over for the next generation?”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “في الأصل، الإنسان حرٌ كالعصفور، فلم لا يسعى وراء القليل من المتعة؟”

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• “الحياة نفسها لا تخضع لاي منطق فلماذا نسعى لاستخلاص معناها على نحو منطقي ؟!”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “Mucizeler inanmadım hiç, kadere inanmadığım gibi; ama ümitsiz bir durumdaysanız , mucizelerden başka ümit bağlayacağınız ne kalır?”

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• “You’ve lived in the city for a long time and need to feel that you have a hometown.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “Tú sabes que no hago nada más que hablarme a mí mismo para distraer mi soledad. Sabes que mi soledad es irremediable, nadie puede consolarme, no puedo recurrir a otro que a mí como interlocutor de mis discusiones.
  En este largo monólogo, <> es el objeto de mi relato, en realidad es un yo que me escucha atentamente, <> no es más que me propia sombra.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “El hombre no puede deshacerse de esta máscara, es la proyección de su carne y de su alma. Se le pega a la piel, jamás podrá liberarse de ella, pero está sumido en un profundo asombro, como si no pudiera creer que se trate de sí mismo.
  Esta imposibilidad de abandonar la máscara le causaba inmensos sufrimientos. Una vez que se la ha puesto, es imposible arrancársela, porque no tiene voluntad personal, o, si la tiene, no conoce el modo de expresarla y prefiere no mostrarla. La máscara deja así la impresión de un hombre que se contempla eternamente en el más profundo de los asombros.”

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• “Sitting at rest know not to discuss the shortcomings of other people Setting out on a journey fully appreciate the beauty of the dragon river”

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• “Another issue was language, the problem of expressing these themes in language and the problem of how much one can articulate in language.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “La libertad no es un derecho del hombre que concede el cielo, y la libertad de soñar tampoco se adquiere desde el nacimiento: es una capacidad que hay que preservar, una conciencia, sobre todo porque las pesadillas no paran de perturbarla.”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “Although as an individual Gao had readily denounced the Chinese authorities for the events of 4 June in the French and Italian media, he refused to compromise his integrity as a writer. His stance angered both political sides.”

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• “النساء مثلهن لايعرفن الحياة الهانئة الا في ما ندر ، لأن الرجال يرغبون في النساء لمتعتهم الخاصة ، والأزواج يرغبون في زوجة تعني بالمنزل والمطبخ ، والمسنون يرغبون في كنة توفر لهم الذرية ، لا أحد يسعي وراء الحب”

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• “ضحايا الظلم هم دائما من النساء”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “Tuzağa yakalanmış hissediyorum kendimi. Dev bir zıpkınla vurulmuş, korkunun ağları içinde çırpınan bir balık gibiyim; kaderini değiştiremeyeceğini bile bile çırpınan, bir mucize olmadıkça kurtulmayacağını bilen bir balık. Ama ben hayatın boyunca hep bir mucize beklemedim mi?”

  Gao Xingjian

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• “الطبيعة ليست مخيفة الإنسان هو المخيف يكفي ان تتآلف مع الطبيعة لكي تتآلف معك أما الإنسان فهو قادر إذا حُبيَ بنعمة الذكاء طبعا على اختراع كل شئ بدءاً بالإشاعات وصولاً إلى طفل الأنبوب لكنه في الوقت نفسه يبيد كل يوم نوعين او ثلاثة من الأنواع الحية في هذا العالم تلك هي الخدعة البشرية”

  Gao Xingjian

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