To Live Quotes
"I had the carefree job of going to the countryside to collect popular folk songs. That year, for the entire summer, I was like a sparrow soaring recklessly."
"I once spent a whole afternoon talking with an old man who kept a melon patch. I ate more melons that day than I ever had in my life."
"What I loved most was sitting before the peasants’ houses just as dusk fell."
"I wore a wide-brimmed straw hat on my head and a pair of slippers on my feet. A towel hung down from my belt behind me; I made it look like a tail patting me on the butt as I walked."
"I’d wander all over the place, not even remembering which villages I’d been to and which I hadn’t."
"Actually I learned all those dirty stories and sad songs from them. I knew everything that interested them, and naturally this was also what interested me."
"That summer I almost fell in love. I met an enchanting young girl, and even today her dark complexion glitters and radiates before my eyes."
"I was overcome by a bliss that extended throughout my body and soul—never once did I stop to think about tomorrow."
"Oxen plough the fields, dogs watch over the house, monks beg for alms, chickens call at the break of day and women do the weaving."
"Forty years ago my dad would often stroll back and forth across this land... He would always have his hands clasped behind his back."
"My father was of very high social status, but every time he squatted down to take a shit he was just like a poor man."
"A wealthy woman marries a wealthy man—it’s like piling all the money up."
"Gambling made me both happy and tense. And it was especially that sense of tension that brought me an almost indescribable feeling of comfort."
"As long as you don’t gamble anymore, everything will be all right."
"As long as you are happy, being poor is nothing to be ashamed of."
"Listen to me, you bastard. Do you remember what it was like when you married Jiazhen? Well that’s what it is going to be like today when I take her away."
"Animal, from now on you’ll have nothing to do with Jiazhen! The Chen family will never again have any dealings with you Xus!"
"Don’t blame me for being cruel. It’s all because of that animal’s wild behavior that things have gotten to this stage."
"How am I supposed to make this up to the Xu family ancestors?"
"Fengxia, don’t you ever forget I’m your daddy."
"I imagined that this rich, flourishing land was full of people like Fugui."
"Jiazhen doesn’t belong to anyone but you. No one can take her away."
"You shouldn’t scoff at those clumps of mud, as they’re a cure for all kinds of sicknesses."
"The house and land all belong to Long Er now. Setting up our home here is just the same as anywhere else."
"I don’t even know the name of the place where I’ll die."
"Whoever is willing to join the Liberation Army, stay where you are; if you want to go home, stand up and go pick up your travel allowances."
"After fighting this battle, I knew what this thing called war was. I promised myself never to fight again."
"Just thinking about being able to reunite in this life with my mom, Jiazhen, and my two kids filled me with laughter and tears."
"I stood in the doorway with my head lowered, and the tears began to fall."
"As long as our family could be together every day, who really cared about good fortune?"
"These days our lives are more comfortable than that of a carefree loafer!"
"It was all fate. As the saying goes, 'If you escape a calamity with your life, there is bound to be good fortune to follow.'"
"Who knew how many pairs of shoes we could buy for Youqing with the money we got every year from selling the lambs' wool."
"He started wailing like a baby, but I didn’t care—I hit him again with all my strength."
"We'll let the hospital decide whether you're sick or not."
"It's a good thing it's not curable. Where would we get the money for medicine if it was?"
"Actually, I probably should have died long ago. So many people died during the war, but somehow I survived."
"This rice came from between my father’s teeth."
"I don’t want to die. All I want is to be able to wake up every day and see you and the kids."
"Clothes don’t last long if you don’t wear them. I’ll never wear those clothes, so what’s the point of them rotting away with me?"
"Don't say the wrong thing, don't sleep in the wrong bed, don't enter the wrong house, and don't rub the wrong pocket."
"Time really flies—it seemed like ever since Jiazhen and I were married we'd been through nothing but hard times."
"Even though you're old you're still a person. And as long as you're a person you should try to keep clean."
"Country people are really narrow-minded—all they do is nit-pick over these little things."
"The worst part was they didn’t let me get any fucking sleep—it was like torture."
"You still owe us a life. Hold on to your life to repay us."
"Your life is given to you by your parents. If you don’t want to live, you have to ask them first."
"The dead all want to keep on living. Here you are alive and kicking; you can’t die."
"Once you married Fengxia we could finally rest at ease. Now that you’re going to have a child, that’s even better."
"I never dreamed that a day like this would come."
"Our biggest worry used to be what Fengxia would do after Jiazhen and I passed away."
"This child has been without a mother from the moment he entered this world."
"The pain wasn’t so bad. The worst part was they didn’t let me get any fucking sleep—it was like torture."
"This life’s almost over for me. Knowing how good you’ve been to me, I’m content."
"You’ve got to keep on living. There’s still Erxi and Kugen to take care of."
"I hope that I’ll be able to spend my next life together with you again."
"My memories of Fengxia are my only happiness."
"The longer I’ve managed to squeeze by, the more useless I’ve become, but in the end, I’ve lived a long time."
"An ox is like half a person. He can help me work, and when there’s free time he can keep me company, and when I’m bored I can talk to him."
"Seeing this ox weeping so intensely, I couldn’t help but feel bad for him."
"Fugui is a good ox. Of course he gets lazy sometimes, but even people drag their feet from time to time—how can you expect an animal not to?"
"In my younger days I wandered amuck, at middle age I wanted to stash everything in a trunk, and now that I’m old I’ve become a monk."
"I understand now better than ever why I write—all of my effort is directed at getting as close as possible to reality."