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Arthur Waley
16 quotes
“To the European poet the relation between man and woman is a thing of supreme importance and mystery. To the Chinese, it is something commonplace, obvious—a need of the body, not a satisfaction of the emotions.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1919), Introduction, p. 18
“Since the classical language has an easy grammar and limited vocabulary, a few months should suffice for the mastering of it.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Japanese Poetry: The Uta (1919), Introduction, p. 8
“I have not used rhyme, because what is really, in the long run, of most interest to American readers is what the poems say; and if one uses rhyme, it is impossible not to sacrifice sense to sound.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Translations from the Chinese (1941), p. 1
“When translating prose dialogue one ought to make the characters say things that people talking English could conceivably say. One ought to hear them talking, just as a novelist hears his characters talk.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes on Translation", in The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 202, No. 5 (November 1958), p. 109
“Anyone with a good classical education could learn Chinese by himself without difficulty.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1968 remark, quoted in Japan Quarterly, Vol. XVIII, No. 1 (January-March 1971), p. 107
“I would rather be dead.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Response when offered the Chair in Chinese at Cambridge, as quoted in Orientalism and the Operatic World (2015) by Nicholas Tarling, p. 78
“I have a theory of my own about what this art of the novel is, and how it came into being. To begin with, it does not simply consist in the author's telling a story about the adventures of some other person. On the contrary, it happens because the storyteller's own experience of men and things, whether for good or ill—not only what he has passed through himself, but even events which he has only witnessed or been told of—has moved him to an emotion so passionate that he can no longer keep it shut up in his heart.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'To hope for [immortality],' said the Patriarch, 'would be like trying to fish the moon out of the water.' 'There you go again!' said Monkey. 'What pray do you mean by fishing the moon out of the water?' 'When the moon is in the sky,' said the Patriarch, 'it is reflected in the water. It looks just like a real thing, but if you try to catch hold of it, you find it is only an illusion.'”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'Nothing in the world is difficult,' said the Patriarch, 'it is only our own thoughts that make things seem so.'”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'Insensate groom! What crime is there that you have not committed? You have stolen peaches and stolen wine, upset the high feast, purloined Lao Tzu's elixir, and then taken more wine for your banquet here. You have piled up sin upon sin; do you not realize what you have done?' 'Quite true,' said Monkey, 'all quite true. What are you going to do about it?'”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'If the Government gets hold of you they'll flog you to death; if the Buddhists get hold of you they'll starve you to death.'”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A handful of one's country's soil is worth more than ten thousand pounds of foreign gold.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'Master, we can start now; I have killed them all.' 'I am very sorry to hear it,' said Tripitaka. 'One has no right to kill robbers, however violent and wicked they may be. The most one may do is to bring them before a magistrate. It would have been quite enough in this case if you had driven them away. Why kill them? You have behaved with a cruelty that ill becomes one of your sacred calling.' 'If I had not killed them,' said Monkey, 'they would have killed you.' 'A priest,' said Tripitaka, 'should be ready to die rather than commit acts of violence.'”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A team of horses cannot overtake a word that has left the mouth.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Suddenly they saw a body in the water, drifting rapidly down stream. Tripitaka stared at it in consternation. Monkey laughed. 'Don't be frightened, Master,' he said. 'That's you.' And Pigsy said, 'It's you, it's you.' Sandy clapped his hands. 'It's you, it's you,' he cried. The ferryman too joined in the chorus. 'There you go!' he cried. 'My best congratulations.'”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tripitaka stepped lightly ashore. He had discarded his earthly body; he was cleansed from the corruption of the senses, from the fleshly inheritance of those bygone years. His was now the transcendent wisdom that leads to the Further Shore, the mastery that knows no bounds.”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source