Sedulia's Quotations

Xiangzi hated Zhi Bo and lacquered his skull to use as a cup

Zhao Xiangzi hated Zhi Bo so much that he had his skull lacquered to use as a drinking vessel.

   ---From the "Assassins" chapter of Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian 太史令司馬遷 (ca 145 or 135 BC–86 BC), 史記卷八十六·刺客列传第二十六

趙襄子最怨智伯,漆其头以为饮器.

Li Shimin: When you use antiquity as a mirror, you can see prosperity and decline

When you use bronze as a mirror,  you can straighten your clothes and hat. When you use antiquity as a mirror, you can see the waxing and waning. When you use a person as a mirror, you can know if you grasp things or not. Wei Zheng is gone;  I have lost my mirror.

     --Li Shimin 李世民, who became Tang dynasty emperor Taizong 唐太宗 (599-649), about his minister Wei Zheng 魏徵 (580-643). Tang Taizong is considered among the greatest rulers in Chinese history.

人以銅為鏡，可以正衣冠，以古為鏡，可以見興替，以人為鏡，可以知得失。魏徵沒，朕亡一鏡矣。

Frank O'Connor on the two sexes

 
...the two sexes, for ever scouting about one another's encampments and bringing back horrible tales of what went on in them.

    --Irish writer Frank O'Connor [pen name of Michael O'Donovan] (1903-1966) in his autobiography My Father's Son

Raymond Chandler: Looking daggers

The girl gave him a look which ought to have stuck at least four inches out of his back.

   --In The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler (1888-1959)

Goncourt brothers: Nadar waits impatiently for the death of his fellow patient

Nadar [the famous photographer] told me that in the hospital, he waited impatiently for the death of his neighbor, number 4, because he wanted his night-stand; and how he asked the male nurse every morning, "Well, how is he?" and the nurse would answer: "Oh, it's going well! He won't last the day."

        --Diaries of Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, 1854

Nadar me disait qu'à l'hôpital, il attendait avec impatience la mort de son voisin, le nº 6, par envie de sa table de nuit; et comme il demandait tous les matins à l'infirmier: "Eh bien, comment va-t-il?" l'infirmier répondait: "Oh, ça va très bien! Il ne passera pas la journée."

       

Heine: To my former friend Eduard G.

You now have titles, offices, decorations,
you have a coat of arms with a crested helm,
maybe you're even an Excellency--
but for me you're still a poor beggar.

I'm not impressed with the noble soul,
that you skilfully affect,
though it glitters like a diamond pin
bejeweling the Philistine's white shirt.

O God! I know that inside your gold-braid
court uniform, pathetically, there's only
a naked man, suffering from frailties,
a sighing thing, a poor creature.

I know that you need food like everyone else,
and you also have to shit like them
-- so spare me the flood of platitudes
about your exalted emotions!

  --Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

An meinen früheren Freund Eduard G.

Du hast nun Titel, Ämter, Würden, Orden,
Hast Wappenschild mit panaschiertem Helm,
Du bist vielleicht auch Exzellenz geworden -
Für mich jedoch bist du ein armer Schelm.

Mir imponieret nicht der Seelenadel,
Den du dir anempfunden sehr geschickt,
Obgleich er glänzt wie eine Demantnadel,
Die des Philisters weißes Brusthemd schmückt.

O Gott! ich weiß, in deiner goldbetreßten
Hofuniform, gar kümmerlich, steckt nur
Ein nackter Mensch, behaftet mit Gebresten,
Ein seufzend Ding, die arme Kreatur.

Ich weiß, bedürftig, wie die andern alle,
Bist du der Atzung, kackst auch jedenfalls
Wie sie - deshalb mit dem Gemeinplatzschwalle
Von Hochgefühlen bleibe mir vom Hals!

Chinatown Family: Tom Fong beats a bully

"Hey, Chinaman," said Ziffy in the noon-hour recess. "Go out and get an ice pop for me, will yer?"

"No, I'm going home," said Tom.

"Hey, what's the matter? Doncha know me?"

"Sure, I do."

"Well, I say, go out and get an ice pop for me, and beat it."

"I can't. I'm going home for lunch."

...Ziffy came closer, his hands in his pockets, affecting an easy, confident tone. "So you won't do what Ziffy tells you to do, is that it?"

"Leave him alone," said Steve.

"I'd like to know who's going to stand up to Ziffy." He advanced glowering and slapped Tom's cheek. "You Chink!"

Tom winced.

"Will you do it now or do you wanna fight?"

"I won't do it and I won't fight."

"Yellow!"

The other boys stood watching. From the yard Eva approached, wondering what Tom had got into.

"Say, is it true Chinese girls got two horizontal mouths?" Ziffy was bent on a fight.

"You stop that," said Steve.

"Say, you're not sweet on his sister, are you?"

"You don't have to pick on him. He's done you no harm."

"Tom, what's the matter?" Eva asked.

"Your brother is yellow, that's what's the matter. He's scared, that's what he is. Will you fight or not?" demanded Ziffy.

"What for? Suppose you win; that proves you got stronger muscles than me. That doesn't make you right."

The boys were confused. Some shouted one thing, some shouted another.

"Come on, fight me if you want to prove you're not a yellow dog."

"Let me see your arm," said Tom slowly.

Ziffy raised his arm, but Steve held him.

Tom raised his hand calmly and felt around Ziffy's biceps approvingly. "I won't fight you," he said. "You got stronger muscles. Makes no sense." Tom started to go away.

"So you are yellow."

"I know you got stronger muscles. I know it without fighting you. But that's all you got. I say I won't fight you,and I won't buy an ice pop for you. Get it yourself."

Tom pushed his way through the circle. Ziffy frowned miserably, his restive fists threatening action. Clutching Tom's arm, he said, "You're not going to get away with this. You Chinaman."

Tom turned around. "What's wrong with Chinamen?"

"You're a furriner."

"And you?"

"I'm an American."

"And your father, Hruschka?"

"I won't let you say anything about my father. He came to America."

"So did I, like your father."

Ziffy was furious. But Tom was out of reach already. Holding Eva's hand, he walked out of the school yard, to the amazement of all the boys.

"What was the matter?" asked Eva.

"It's nothing. He called me Chinaman. I don't see what's wrong with that. It's like Englishman, Frenchman, Dutchman, laundryman. I don't see what's wrong with the word."

        --Chinatown Family (1948), by Lin Yutang (1895-1976)

Joan Didion on marriage

In the early years, you fight because you don't understand each other. In later years, you fight because you do.

        --Joan Didion (1934-)