Pearl S. Buck

Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.

The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.

What is a neglected child? He is a child not planned for, not wanted. Neglect begins, therefore, before he is born.

Like Confucius of old, I am so absorbed in the wonder of the earth and the life upon it, that I cannot think of heaven and the angels.

Self-expression must pass into communication for its fulfillment.

You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea.

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.

Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

Life without idealism is empty indeed. We just hope or starve to death.

To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.

Love dies only when growth stops.

We should so provide for old age that it may have no urgent wants of this world to absorb it from meditation on the next. It is awful to see the lean hands of dotage making a coffer of the grave.

All things are possible until they are proven impossible.

The bitterest creature under heaven is the wife who discovers that her husband's bravery is only bravado, that his strength is only a uniform, that his power is but a gun in the hands of a fool.

When men destroy their old gods they will find new ones to take their place.

The vicious result of privilege is that the creature who receives it becomes incapacitated by it as by a disease.

The test of a civilization is in the way that it cares for its helpless members.

Order is the shape upon which beauty depends.

The basic discovery about any people is the discovery of the relationship between men and women.

Men would rather be starving and free than fed in bonds.

In this unbelievable universe in which we live, there are no absolutes. Even parallel lines, reaching into infinity, meet somewhere yonder.

As for New York City, it is a place apart. There is not its match in any other country in the world.

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation.

The proper place to eat lobster... is in a lobster shack as close to the sea as possible. There is no menu card because there is nothing else to eat except boiled lobster with melted butter.

Self expression must pass into communication for its fulfillment

I am mentally bifocal.

Exclusion is always dangerous. Inclusion is the only safety if we are to have a peaceful world.

I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.

All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.

Nothing and no one can destroy the Chinese people. They are relentless survivors.

When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail.

To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart.

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word “ excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

Men and women should own the world as a mutual possession.

Race prejudice is not only a shadow over the colored it is a shadow over all of us, and the shadow is darkest over those who feel it least and allow its evil effects to go on.

All things are possible until they are proved impossible - and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.

There is an alchemy in sorrow. It can be transmuted into wisdom, which, if it does not bring joy, can yet bring happiness.

What is a neglected child He is a child not planned for not wanted. Neglect begins therefore before he is born.

It may be that religion is dead, and if it is, we had better know it and set ourselves to try to discover other sources of moral strength before it is too late.

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible " and achieve it, generation after generation.

Truth is always exciting. Speak it, then; life is dull without it.

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.

The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this A human creature born abnormally inhumanly sensitive.

If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all.

Every era of renaissance has come out of new freedoms for peoples. The coming renaissance will be greater than any in human history, for this time all the peoples of the earth will share in it.

A good marriage is one which allows for change and growth in the individuals and in the way they express their love.

Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied.

Let woman out of the home, let man into it, should be the aim of education. The home needs man, and the world outside needs woman.

A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.

We send missionaries to China so the Chinese can get to heaven, but we won't let them into our country.

To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death.

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible – and achieve it, generation after generation.

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation.

Some mothers are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together.

To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.

There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts broken by love but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream whatever that dream might be.

Self expression must pass into communication for its fulfillment.

Euthanasia is a long smooth sounding word and it conceals its danger as long smooth words do but the danger is there nevertheless.

The truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is dull without it.

If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.

Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that is where I renew my springs that never dry up.

You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.

Chinese are wise in comprehending without many words what is inevitable and inescapable and therefore only to be borne.

You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.

Praise out of season, or tactlessly bestowed, can freeze the heart as much as blame.

We need to restore the full meaning of that old word, duty. It is the other side of rights.

I dont wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.

Nothing in life is as good as the marriage of true minds between man and woman. As good? It is life itself.

A man is educated and turned out to work. But a woman is educated and turned out to grass.

Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together.

None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.

Love alone could waken love.

Hunger makes a thief of any man.

One faces the future with one's past.