Quote by Gao Xingjian

“When a man gets to middle age shouldn’t he look for a peaceful and stable existence, find a not-too-demanding sort of a job, stay…

— Gao Xingjian

Literature transcends national boundaries, racial boundaries. It goes deep into the issues that concern all human beings. That is why, when people read Greek…

— Gao Xingjian

I hadn't originally intended to do any reading, what if I did read one book more or one book less, whether I read or…

— Gao Xingjian

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…

— Gao Xingjian

Since childhood, I'd dreamed of making a film, but producers in France and Germany wanted to make commercial films with chinoiserie. I refused.

— Gao Xingjian

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…

— Gao Xingjian

“Yours is much worse than Eastern! You’ve slapped together travel notes, moralistic ramblings, feelings, notes, jottings, untheoretical discussions, unfable-like fables, copied out some folk…

— Gao Xingjian

The enterprise of describing something in language that has never been described before is a very difficult thing to do. When you decide to…

— Gao Xingjian

When I completed writing 'Soul Mountain,' I more or less closed the accounts with China for myself. I was 50 years old when I…

— Gao Xingjian

I want to write a novel so profound that it would suffocate a fly.

— Gao Xingjian

Body odour (known also as scent of the immortals) is a disgusting condition with an awful, nauseating smell.

— Gao Xingjian

If, while observing the boundless universe, the writer is able to scrutinise his own self as well as others, the resulting incisiveness of his…

— Gao Xingjian