Instead of holding on to the Biblical view that we are made in the image of God, we come to realize that we are made in the image of the monkey.

A solemn funeral is inconceivable to the Chinese mind.

The more we justify our beliefs, the more narrow-minded we become.

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

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.

Today we are afraid of simple words like goodness and mercy and kindness. We don't believe in the good old words because we don't believe in good old values anymore. And that's why the world is sick.

The dog which remembers only to bark and not to bite, and is led through the streets as a lady's pet, is only a degenerate wolf.

Our lives are not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of our cooks.

If one's bowels move, one is happy, and if they don't move, one is unhappy. That is all there is to it.

All human beings are like travelers floating down the eternal river of time, embarking at a certain point and disembarking again at another point in order to make room for others waiting below the river to come aboard.

Winter in Peking is insurpassable, unless indeed it is surpassed by the other seasons in that blessed city. For Peking is a city clearly marked by the seasons, each perfect in its own way and each different from the others.

What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?

The fonder you are of your ideals, the greater your heartbreaks.

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

I rather despise claims to objectivity in philosophy; the point of view is the thing.

An educated man is one who has the loves and hatreds together.

The world I believe is far too serious, and being far too serious ... it has need of a wise and merry philosophy.

Happiness has always seemed like a bluebird, and consists of moments.

When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.

Not until we see the richness of the Hindu mind and its essential spirituality can we understand India.