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There are numerous layers to truth, and the simple and superficial statement of facts cannot satisfy the writer.

Gao Xingjian

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Gao Xingjian
Age: 84
Born: 1940
Born: January 4
Film Director
Literary Critic
Novelist
Painter
Playwright
Translator
Writer
Xingjian Gao
Hành Kiện Cao
Hsing-chien Kao
Superficial
Truth
Layers
Statement
Statements
Writer
Simple
Numerous
Facts
Satisfy
Cannot

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Only a lunatic would think that art is superior to nature.
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You should know that there is little you can seek in this world, that there is no need for you to be so greedy, in the end all you can achieve are memories, hazy, intangible, dreamlike memories which are impossible to articulate. When you try to relate them, there are only sentences, the dregs left from the filter of linguistic structures.
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When God talks to humans he doesn't want humans to hear his voice.
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Reality is myself, reality is only the perception of this instant and it can't be related to another person.
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For me, writing [was] a question of survival...I could not trust anyone, even my family. The atmosphere was so poisoned. People even in your own family could turn you in.
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When you're telling a story, you've got to give details.
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In the snow outside my window I see a small green frog, one eye blinking and the other wide open, unmoving, looking at me. I know this is God.
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Literature is subservient to nothing but truth.
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In the history of literature there are many great enduring works which were not published in the lifetimes of the authors. If the authors had not achieved self-affirmation while writing, how could they have continued to write?
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Everybody can write poetry, just like everybody knows how to make love.
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The human need for language is not simply for the transmission of meaning, it is at the same time listening to and affirming a person's existence.
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If you want to do anything, do it now, without compromise or concession, because you have only one life.
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I don't want to be a strong hero who can save society. I just want to save myself.
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I believe in science but I also believe in fate.
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Once the buttons are undone, you know how it'll all end. It's all in the game, there are no miracles.
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Men always look differently at women, even if it's not your intention it is wrongly interpreted as such.
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The enterprise of describing something in language that has never been described before is a very difficult thing to do. When you decide to do away with old cliches or old phraseologies, and to come up with a new way of saying something, it's extremely difficult.
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Observing humans and observing oneself yields a clear-minded starting point for literature.
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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 not wouldn't make a difference, I would still be waiting to get cremated.
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Walk where your heart leads you, there are no restrictions and no burdens.
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