Peter Hessler Quotes

#1. People with good memories are liable to be crushed by the weight of their suffering. Only those with bad memories, the fittest to survive, can live on. - Lu Xun

Peter Hessler

#2. In China, much of life involves skirting regulations, and one of the basic truths is that forgiveness comes easier than permission.

Peter Hessler

#3. I realized that as a thinking person his advantage lay precisely in his lack of formal education. Nobody told him what to think, and thus he was free to think clearly.

Peter Hessler

#4. Fortunately, there is a sane equilibrium in the character of nations, as there is in that of men.

Jose Marti

#5. If I had a razor, I'd cut your throat - just to see what ran out of it."
"Caterpillar blood," I said.

Raymond Chandler

#6. Fortune is beastly - it is only suitable for cows and businessmen.

Irving Stone

#7. I hit him as hard as I could. His hands were full of my belongings, and every time I punched him he dropped something. I slugged him and my camera popped out; I hit him again and there was my money belt; another punch and my shorts flew up in the air.

Peter Hessler

#8. I began to see motorcyclists who had attached computer discs to their back mudflaps, because they made good reflectors. In a place called Xingwuying, locals climbed the Great Wall whenever they wanted to receive a cell phone signal.

Peter Hessler

#9. Sometimes they seemed to grasp instinctively at the worst of both worlds: the worst modern habits, the worst traditional beliefs.

Peter Hessler

#10. Chill December brings the sleet, Blazing fire, and Christmas treat.

Sara Coleridge

#11. Good players win volleyball games for you, not tall players.

John Kessel

#12. Contrary to age-old prejudices, the wealth of the rich is not the cause of the poverty of the poor, but helps to alleviate that poverty.

Henry Hazlitt

#13. Americans don't understand irony? I am an intelligent person living in the United States. My entire existence is ironic.

Marc Maron

#14. I was a pop freak. I love music. Of course, I knew soul because I grew up in it. Writing it and everything. I love soul. But I love a tune that has some meat in it. Something I could hang my hat on. Because music is universal. Therefore, I felt no boundaries.

Isaac Hayes

#15. In April 1981, at my request, my mother went to a detective agency. She hired them to follow me, to report my daily activities, and to provide photographic evidence of my existence.

Sophie Calle

#16. I'm a latecomer to the environmental issue, which for years seemed to me like an excuse for more government regulation. But I can see that in rich societies, voters are paying less attention to economic issues and more to issues of the spirit, including the environment.

David Frum