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Portrait of Lin Yutang

Lin Yutang

(1895–1976) Lexicographer Taiwan

162 quotes in 813 categories

A book is useful only when it fits the reader’s time, place, and mood; otherwise it wastes hours. Lin Yutang says an educated mind holds love and hate together, and that play exists for its own sake, without needing a reason. He also warns that overly rational people can feel unsettling.

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Lin Yutang was a lexicographer from Taiwan, best known for The Importance of Living.

Quick Facts About Lin Yutang

Born
October 10, 1895
Died
March 26, 1976
Nationality
Taiwan
Profession
Lexicographer
Notable works
The Importance of Living
Known for
My Country and My People, The Importance of Living

About Lin Yutang

Lin Yutang was a Chinese writer, linguist, and inventor. A prolific bilingual writer in both Chinese and English, he was celebrated for pioneering a humorous prose style in modern Chinese literature and for serving as a cultural bridge between China and the West, most notably through My Country and My People (1935) and his English translations of Chinese classics. As a linguist, he compiled a series of ESL textbooks for Chinese learners in the 1930s and later produced an English–Chinese dictionary in the 1970s. As an inventor, he designed a Chinese typewriter, which was patented in the United States in 1952, though it was never mass-produced. From 1940 to 1973, Lin received six nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Quotes by Lin Yutang

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