Han Shan Quotes

#1. And you think he'll tell?" Matt asked. "We will make him tell us." Han Shan-tung muttered the words casually, but there was something about the way he spoke that made the skin crawl.

Anthony Horowitz

#2. When men see Han-shan
They all say he's crazy
And not much to look at -
Dressed in rags and hides.
They don't get what I say
And I don't talk their language.
All I can say to those I meet:
Try and make it to Cold Mountain.

Gary Snyder

#3. All the people in the Kuo-ch'ing monastery They say, "Han-shan is an idiot." "Am I really an idiot:" I reflect. But my reflections fail to solve the question: for I myself do not know who the self is, And how can others know who I am?

Hanshan

#4. The mountains are so cold
not just now but every year
crowded ridges breathe in snow
sunless forests breathe out mist
nothing grows until Grain Ears
leaves fall before Autumn Begins
a lost traveler here
looks in vain for the sky

Han-shan

#5. I wasn't being a git. I wasn't even being a twat, or a wanker, or any of your other bleeding Briticisms -

Stephanie Perkins

#6. No need to attack the faults of others
no need to flaunt your own virtues
act when you're acknowledged
retire when you're ignored
rich rewards mean great trials
deep words meet superficial minds
think about what you hear
children must see for themselves..

Han-shan

#7. Spring water is pure in an emerald stream
moonlight is white on Cold Mountain
silence thoughts and the spirit becomes clear
focus on emptiness and the world grows still

Han-shan

#8. The Yellow River is boundless
flowing east without cease
on and on never clearing
while everyone's lifespan ends
and ifyou would ride the clouds
how will you grow wings
unless while your hair is black
you make an effort moving or still

Han-shan

#9. I wanted a good place to settle:
Cold Mountain would be safe.
Light wind in a hidden pine -
Listen close - the sound gets better.
Under it a gray haired man
Mumbles along reading Huang and Lao.
For ten years I havn't gone back home
I've even forgotten the way by which I came.

Gary Snyder

#10. Leaders inspire us because they bring out the best in us.

Umair Haque

#11. Give me a hidden eddy
a residence free from dust and noise
paths of newly trampled grass
clouds above for neighbors
birds to help me sing
no one asking for sermons
springtime for this Saha tree
nowadays lasts how many years

Han-shan

#12. Not every truth is the better for showing its face undisguised; and often silence is the wisest thing for a man to heed.

Pindar

#13. For an image of life and death
consider ice and water
water freezes into ice
ice melts back into water
what dies must live again
what lives is bound to die
ice and water don't harm each other
both life and death are fine..

Han-shan

#14. The ten thousand things are all reflections
the moon originally has no light

Han-shan

#15. I get recognised in town a bit; I wouldn't say it's hindering my life in any way.

April Pearson

#16. Power is a neutral energy source, like tofu. It's what you do with it that gives it flavor.

Elizabeth Gilbert

#17. Frost interviewing Noel Coward and Margaret Mead. Sir Noel's view of life is Sir Noel. Mead's mind is large and open, like Buckminster Fuller's. She found thoughts dull that suggest that men are superior to animals or plants.

John Cage