Arthur Waley quotes

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)
You that in far-off countries of the sky can dwell secure, look back upon me here; for I am weary of this frail world's decay. View quote
Arthur Waley
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. View quote
Arthur Waley
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. View quote
Arthur Waley
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. View quote
Arthur Waley
There was a rock that since the creation of the world had been worked upon by the pure essences of Heaven and the fine savours of Earth, the vigour of sunshine and the grace of moonlight, till at last it became magically pregnant and one day split open, giving birth to a stone egg, about as big as a playing ball. Fructified by the wind it developed into a stone monkey, complete with every organ and limb. View quote
Arthur Waley
Anything whatsoever may become the subject of a novel, provided only that it happens in this mundane life and not in some fairyland beyond our human ken. View quote
Arthur Waley
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! View quote
Arthur Waley
Ceaseless as the interminable voices of the bell-cricket, all night till dawn my tears flow. View quote
Arthur Waley
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. View quote
Arthur Waley
Anyone with a good classical education could learn Chinese by himself without difficulty. (Arthur Waley)
Since the classical language has an easy grammar and limited vocabulary, a few months should suffice for the mastering of it. View quote
Arthur Waley
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. View quote
Arthur Waley
It is in general the unexplored that attracts us. View quote
Arthur Waley
A team of horses cannot overtake a word that has left the mouth. View quote
Arthur Waley
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. View quote
Arthur Waley
Though the snow-drifts of Yoshino were heaped across his path, doubt not that whither his heart is set, his footsteps shall tread out their way. View quote
Arthur Waley
Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams. View quote
Arthur Waley
Think not that I have come in quest of common flowers; but rather to bemoan the loss of one whose scent has vanished from the air. View quote
Arthur Waley
Nothing in the world is difficult,' said the Patriarch, 'it is only our own thoughts that make things seem so. View quote
Arthur Waley
I would rather be dead. (Arthur Waley)