Words matter. These are the best Gao Xingjian Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I was born Chinese, and I write in Chinese. I don’t think there’s any need to evade this… to a writer, as to a person, what matters is not his political label or his nationality, but whether he is a person and whether his work is worth looking at.
A writer has to fully defend his rights and his own worth.
If you’re not perfectly conscious of yourself, that self can be tyrannical; in relationship to others, anyone can become a tyrant. That’s why no one can be a Superman. You have to go beyond yourself with a ‘third eye’ – self-awareness – because the one thing you cannot flee is yourself.
I don’t want to be a strong hero who can save society. I just want to save myself.
When you use words, you’re able to keep your mind alive. Writing is my way of reaffirming my own existence.
As a male writer, women are always what men pursue, and their world is always a mystery. So I always tried to present as many views as possible on women’s worlds.
Literature is higher than politics, if not actually above politics.
Many intellectuals feel themselves to be Supermen who are spokesmen for the people. But in my opinion, they’re to be pitied. Under Mao’s dictatorship, these poor sheep suffered the same fate as everyone else.
Literature hasn’t come up with any new themes. The literature of all different times – it’s still dealing with how one resolves issues of existence.
Experience has taught me that any kind of political grouping is oppressive. It’s the blind mass that crushes the individual.
When I first heard that I had won the prize, I thought that it was something for myself, that it was something personal, recognition of my writings. But there is such a strong reaction from Chinese people in particular. It’s been very passionate, overwhelming and passionate, Chinese people from all over the world.
When fashion sweeps in, artists follow suit. I think this is the malady of contemporary art.
Love is so holy, so confusing. It makes a man anxious, tormented. Love, how can I define it?
In the history of literature there are many great enduring works which were not published in the lifetimes of the authors. If the authors had not achieved self-affirmation while writing, how could they have continued to write?
The destruction of Chinese traditional culture didn’t start in 1949. It started long before that, with the succession of revolutions. It was particularly bad during the Cultural Revolution, the destruction of traditional Chinese culture.
