Category: Gao Xingjian

“In seeking to survive and yet to retain the authenticity existing at parturition one will either be killed or go mad, if not one will constantly be on the run.” – Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain (trans. Mabel Lee)

“To be boundless to the point of forgetting one’s existence cannot be acquired.” – Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain (trans. Mabel Lee)

“Not having a goal is a goal, the act of searching itself turns into a sort of goal, and the object of the search is irrelevant.” – Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain (trans. Mabel Lee)

“Philosophy in the end is an intellectual game. At limits unattainable by mathematics and the empirical sciences, it constructs all sorts of intricate structures. And as a structure is completed, the game ends. Fiction is different from philosophy because it is the product of sensory perceptions. If a futile self-made signifier is saturated in a solution of lust and at a particular time transforms into a living cell capable of multiplying and growing, it is much more interesting than games of the intellect.” – Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain (trans. Mabel Lee)

“The road stretches endlessly and there is always a point where the sky and earth meet, but the road just crawls over it.” – Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain (trans. Mabel Lee)

“Non-existence exists so there is non-existence of existence; non-existence of existence exists so there is non-existence of non-existence.” – Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain (trans. Mabel Lee)

“If you think she is beautiful she will be beautiful, if there is evil in your heart you will only see demons.” – Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain (trans. Mabel Lee)