Mo Yan Quotes & Sayings

Glory, causes, careers, and love mean nothing on an empty stomach. Because of food, I lost my self-respect; because of food, I suffered the humiliation of a lowly cur; and because of food I took up creative writing, with a vengeance. — Mo Yan

One of the biggest problems in literature is the lack of subtlety. — Mo Yan

I'd discovered that the range of beauty in breasts is wide; while one should never lightly say that a pair is ugly, one can easily say that a pair of breasts is beautiful. Hedgehogs are beautiful sometimes; so are baby pigs. — Mo Yan

During breaks out in the field, when our grumbling stomachs sent a sour taste up into our mouths, our greatest entertainment was talking among ourselves about food. We, along with some of the other field hands, would trade descriptions of delicious foods we had eaten or heard about. It was truly food for the soul. The speakers would invariably have us all drooling. — Mo Yan

I think writers write for their consciences, they write for their own true audiences, for their souls. — Mo Yan

But what sets me apart from other Chinese writers is that I neither copy the narrative techniques of foreign writers nor imitate their story lines; what I am happy to do is closely explore what is embedded in their work in order to understand their observations of life and comprehend how they view the world we live in. In my mind, by reading the works of others, a writer is actually engaging in a dialogue, maybe even a romance in which, if there is a meeting of the minds, a lifelong friendship is born; if not, an amicable parting is fine, too. — Mo Yan

I have always been independent. — Mo Yan

Dear brother," Number Two replied, "I can eat shit, I just don't like the taste. — Mo Yan

As a child who grew up in a grassy field, enjoying little formal education, I know virtually nothing about literary theories and have had to rely solely upon my own experiences and intuitive understanding of the world to write. — Mo Yan

If an earthworm in the ground won't starve to death, then neither will we, the working class." He — Mo Yan

What a shame for a man like him to be born during peacetime. If he'd been born only a few decades earlier, he'd have worn the mantle of hero, — Mo Yan

I heard so many stories from Gaomi's peasants that I had an irrepressible urge to write them down. Today, Gaomi's peasants know that they have become famous around the world through my writings, but I think they are a little puzzled by this. — Mo Yan

No person writes to win awards. — Mo Yan

The cliche that sea dry up and rocks rot away, but the heart never changes is nothing but a beautiful fantasy. — Mo Yan

A writer should express criticism and indignation at the dark side of society and the ugliness of human nature, but we should not use one uniform expression. — Mo Yan

My works are Chinese literature, which is part of world literature. They show the life of Chinese people as well as the country's unique culture and folk customs. — Mo Yan

People who are strangers to liquor are incapable of talking about literature. — Mo Yan

A sudden cloud formation of birds was swallowed up by the moon, and he was just as suddenly penned in by four walls - the demons' pen. — Mo Yan

Loneliness and hunger were my fortunes of creation. — Mo Yan

A person can change the way he talks, but not the way he sneezes. A person can turn single-fold eyelids into double folds, but the greatest plastic surgeon alive cannot change the look in a man's eyes. — Mo Yan

Only by recalling a dream is an insomniac sure he's slept. — Mo Yan

The act of giving voice to this spiritual suffering is, in my view, the sacred duty of the writer. — Mo Yan

A writer's place in a nation's literary history cannot be judged by whether or not he is capable of writing a book as heavy as a brick. That must rest on his contributions to the development and enrichment of that nation's language. — Mo Yan

A writer should always bravely face life, risking death and mutilation in order to dethrone an emperor. — Mo Yan

I know what real courage is, and I understand true compassion. — Mo Yan

Some may want to shout on the street, but we should tolerate those who hide in their rooms and use literature to voice their opinions. — Mo Yan

When people are driven nearly mad, they are imbued with superhuman strength and are capable of almost supernatural deeds. — Mo Yan

My grandmother once told me that while there is no suffering a person cannot endure, there is plenty of good fortune one can never hope to enjoy. I believe that. — Mo Yan

When someone forces me to do something I don't do it. — Mo Yan

WITH THIS BOOK I respectfully invoke the heroic, aggrieved souls wandering in the boundless bright-red sorghum fields of my hometown. As your unfilial son, I am prepared to carve out my heart, marinate it in soy sauce, have it minced and placed in three bowls, and lay it out as an offering in a field of sorghum. Partake of it in good health! — Mo Yan

They say officials love to serve the people, so why do they treat the common folk as enemies? Heavy taxes and under-the-table levies, like ravenous beasts, force the farmers to head for the hills. The common folk have a bellyful of grievances, but they dare not let them out. For the moment they open their mouths, electric prods close them fast. — Mo Yan

When literature exists, perhaps we do not notice how important it is, but when it does not exist, our lives become coarsened and brutal. For this reason, I am proud of my profession, but also aware of its importance. — Mo Yan

My little donkey, if I hadn't shown up, your fate would have been sealed. Love has saved you. Is there anything else that could erase the innate fears of a donkey and send him to rescue you from certain death? No. That is the only one. With a call to arms, I, Ximen Donkey, charged down the ridge and headed straight for the wolf that was tailing my beloved. My hooves kicked up sand and dust as I raced down from my commanding position; no wolf, not even a tiger, could have avoided the spearhead aimed at it. It saw me too late to move out of the way, and I thudded into it, sending it head over heels. Then I turned around and said to my donkey, Do not fear my dear, I am here! — Mo Yan

There are people who walk mules and people walk horses, but I never thought there were people who walk cops. — Mo Yan

Wind, then rain, and then the blue sky. — Mo Yan

For a country boy, poor as I was, whose constant worry was to be able to have enough to eat, the Army guaranteed one's survival. — Mo Yan

A writer should bury his thoughts deep and convey them through the characters in his novel. — Mo Yan

And the chewing and swallowing imbue me with an unadulterated sense of donkey delight. — Mo Yan

I think that China has many outstanding authors, and their great works should also be recognised by the world. — Mo Yan

Finally, she mused that human existence is as brief as the life of autumn grass, so what was there to fear from taking chances with your life? — Mo Yan

Are women really wonderful things? Maybe they are. Yes, women are wonderful things, but when all is said and done, they aren't really things — Mo Yan

Always choose life. A demeaned life is better than the best death. — Mo Yan

I sometimes think that there is a link between the decline in humanity and the increase in prosperity and comfort. Property and comfort are what people seek, but the costs to character are often terrifying. — Mo Yan

I have nothing but admiration for myself as a youngster; I was a force to be reckoned with then, a much finer specimen than I am now. As kids, we had little meat on our bones; we were sticklike figures with big rounded bellies, the skin stretched so taut it was nearly transparent - you could just about see our intestines twist and coil on the other side. Our necks were so long and thin it was a miracle they could support our heavy heads. — Mo Yan

The dead are noble, the living worthless. — Mo Yan

The sun, a red wheel, was sinking slowly in the west. Besides being spectacularly beautiful, the early-summer sunset was exceedingly soft and gentle: black mulberry leaves turned as red as roses; pristine white acacia petals shed an enshrouding pale-green aura. Mild evening breezes made both the mulberry leaves and the acacia petals dance and whirl, filling the woods with a soft rustle. — Mo Yan

When Communism has been realized, everyone will be a novelist. — Mo Yan

Heavens never seals off all the exits — Mo Yan

Possibly because I've lived so much of my life in difficult circumstances, I think I have a more profound understanding of life. — Mo Yan

All kinds of mysterious phenomena exist in this world, but answers to most of them have come with advances in scientific knowledge. Love is the sole holdout-nothing can explain it. A Chinese writer by the name of Ah Cheng wrote that love is just a chemical reaction, an unconventional point of view that seemed quite fresh at the time. But if love can be controlled and initiated by means of chemistry, then novelists would be out of a job. So while he may have had his finger on the truth, I'll remain a member of the loyal opposition. — Mo Yan

I write about my region, the countryside in which I grew up. — Mo Yan

I am also well aware that literature only has a minimal influence on political disputes or economic crises in the world, but its significance to human beings is ancient. — Mo Yan

Where there's life, death is inevitable. Dying's easy; it's living that's hard. The harder it gets, the stronger the will to live. And the greater the fear of death, the greater the struggle to keep on living. — Mo Yan

Over decades that seem but a moment in time, lines of scarlet figures shuttled among the sorghum stalks to weave a vast human tapestry. They killed, they looted, and they defended their country in a valiant, stirring ballet that makes us unfilial descendants who now occupy the land pale by comparison. — Mo Yan

A writer writes what he knows, in ways that are natural to him. — Mo Yan

Am I drunk?" he asked Crewcut.
"You're not drunk, Boss," Crewcut replied. "How could a superior individual like you be drunk? People around here who get drunk are the dregs of society, illiterates, uncouth people. Highbrow folks, those of the 'spring snow,' cannot get drunk. You're a highbrow, therefore you cannot be drunk. — Mo Yan

I'll continue on the path I've been taking, feet on the ground, describing people's lives, describing people's emotions, writing from the standpoint of the ordinary people. — Mo Yan