http://oaks.nvg.org/yutang2.html
I have always assumed that the end of living is the true enjoyment of it. [123]
Every man born into this world . . . should order his life so that he can find the greatest happiness in it. [123]
What can be the end of human life except the enjoyment of it? [124]
After all every girl feels happier when she is well-dressed. [127]
"To cut with a sharp knife a bright green watermelon on a big scarlet plate of a summer afternoon. Ah, is this not happiness?" [134]
My suspicion is, the reason why we shut our eyes willfully to this gorgeous world, vibrating with its own sensuality, is that the spiritualists have made us plain scared of them. [136]
A philosophy that recognizes reality can lead us into true happiness, and . . . that kind of philosophy is sound and healthy. [136]
How often people fail to see the essential kindness of spirit of a Stoic. [137]
The love of mankind which requires reasons is no true love. [137]
No man who loves the trees truly can be cruel to animals or to his fellowmen. [137]
When the spirit has been properly nourished through the senses, he is able to retain a true mental and moral health. [137 mod]
But against evils born of pure vanity and self-deception, against the verbiage by which man persuades himself that he is the goal and acme of the universe, laughter is the proper defence. [138-39]
I almost believe that optimism is a fluid. [139]
It is through the cooperation of the senses, and of the heart with the head, that we can have intellectual warmth. Intellectual warmth, after all, is the thing. [139]
What does literature do except to recreate a picture of life, to give us the atmosphere and color, the fragrant smell of the pastures or the stench of city gutters? [140]
Art should be a . . . warning against our paralyzed emotions, our devitalized thinking and our denaturalized living [too]. [142]
Art . . . assemble the ruined parts of a dislocated life again into a whole. [142]
Philosophy . . . is the exercise of the spirit for excellence. [142]
The perception of a grand order in the universe . . . I would exchange it for a well prepared meal. [142]
[There is] the delight of solving a crossword puzzle successfully. [142]
Let us remind ourselves that millions of people can be happy without discovering this simple unity of design. [142]
I prefer talking with a colored maid to talking with a mathematician; . . . I generally gain more in knowledge of human nature by talking with her. [142-43]
At any time I would prefer pork to poetry, and would waive a piece of philosophy for a piece of fillet, brown and crisp and garnished with good sauce. [143]
Any true philosopher ought to be ashamed of himself when he sees a child. [143]
The philosopher ought to be ashamed . . . ashamed that he wears spectacles, has no appetite, is often distressed in mind and heart, and is entirely unconscious of the fun in life. [143]
Any adequate philosophy of life must be based on the harmony of our given instincts. [143]
The highest conception of human dignity, according to the Chinese Confucianists, is when man reaches ultimately his greatest height, an equal of heaven and earth, by living in accordance with nature. [143]
To arrive at understanding from being one's true self is called nature, and to arrive at being one's true self from understanding is called culture. [144]
Those who are their absolute selves in the world can fulfil their own nature. [144]