Tao Te Ching
Lǔ Xùn 鲁迅
(Zhou Shuren; Lusin)
1881 – 1936 CE
Insightful satirist representing the "Literature of Revolt"
From an impoverished background, Lu Xun rose to become one of modern China’s most popular and influential writers. He was highly admired by Mao Zedong who called him "the saint of modern China" and the "chief commander of China's Cultural Revolution” but who also misquoted his words, purged his followers, suppressed the intellectual openness and penetrating political insight that Lu Xun represented, and said that if he was still alive, he would have stopped writing or gone to jail. A prolific translator and biting satirist, his works are established classics still popular today, required reading in both Chinese and Japanese schools but were banned in Taiwan for almost 50 years. A penetrating social critic often compared to Nietzsche, he was a "champion of common humanity,” an amplifier and translator of ancient wisdom into modern idiom.
Lineages
Poets Translators
Eras
Western
Post-Romantic Age (1850 – 2018 CE)Great Depression (1929 – 1941 CE)
Victorian (1837 – 1901 CE)
Roaring Twenties (1920 – 1929 CE)
Chinese
Qing dynasty (1644 – 1912 CE)Sources
Unlisted Sources
Epigrams
Quotes by Lǔ Xùn (16 quotes)
“Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.”
from Epigrams of Lusin
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“The ability to forget the past enables people to free themselves gradually from the pain they once suffered; but it also often makes them repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.”
from Epigrams of Lusin
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“When the tenant wanted the rent reduced, you said it couldn’t be done… You should change, change from the bottom of your hearts! If you don’t change, you may all be eaten by each other.”
from A Madman's Diary
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“Since the creation of heaven and earth, men have been eating each other. I have been living in a place where for 4000 years they have been eating human flesh… But if you will just change your ways immediately, then everyone will have peace.”
from A Madman's Diary
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“I knew that in this laughter were courage and integrity. Both the old man and my brother turned pale, awed by my courage and integrity.”
from A Madman's Diary
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“Is it right because its always been like that?”
from A Madman's Diary
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“True, we must dare look things in the face before we dare think, speak, act, or assume responsibility. If we dare not even look, what else are we good for?”
from Epigrams of Lusin
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“The most horrible thing is not a government that stages public executions, but a government that secretly disposes of its victims.”
from Epigrams
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“You have to reform yourself before reforming society and the world.”
from Epigrams of Lusin
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“People hate Buddhist monks and nuns, Mohammedans, and Christians. But no one hates a Taoist. To understand the reason for this is to understand half of China.”
from Epigrams of Lusin
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“By the time a great man becomes fossilized and is worshiped as great, he is already a puppet.”
from Epigrams of Lusin
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“I stop drinking and take cod liver oil to lengthen my life... principally because of those who are my enemies—so that some regret may remain in their too perfect world... to make the so-called gentlemen uncomfortable for a few more days.”
from Epigrams
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“Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, and had to go through Gethsemane. Now the rich men of the West are worshiping Jesus, and it is the poor who are going through Gethsemane.”
from Epigrams of Lusin
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“Do not guard yourself against those who call themselves thieves, for when you find out the opposite, they turn out to be gentlemen. Guard yourself against those who call themselves gentlemen, for when you discover the opposite, they turn out to be thieves.”
from Epigrams of Lusin
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“One who knows many subjects is liable to be shallow; one who knows only one subject is apt to be perverse.”
from Epigrams of Lusin
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Quotes about Lǔ Xùn (1 quotes)
“One of the most biting satirists of Chinese culture... Lusin is God to the leftist writers of China today... [he] represents the Literature of Revolt. But this is in itself a sign of life... China needed a man like Lusin to wake the millions up from the self-complacency and lethargy and the accumulated inertia of 4000 years.”
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