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My faith in human dignity consists in the belief that man is the greatest scamp on earth. Human dignity must be associated with the idea of a scamp and not with that of an obedient, disciplined and regimented soldier.

Lin Yutang

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Lin Yutang
Age: 80 †
Born: 1895
Born: October 10
Died: 1976
Died: March 26
Lexicographer
Linguist
Novelist
Philosopher
Translator
Writer
Faith
Disciplined
Idea
Obedient
Earth
Associated
Ideas
Consists
Human
Soldier
Humans
Dignity
Must
Greatest
Men
Belief
Regimented

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A tendency to fly too straight at a goal, instead of circling around it, often carries one too far.
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Instead of holding on to the Biblical view that we are made in the image of God, we come to realize that we are made in the image of the monkey.
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If one's bowels move, one is happy, and if they don't move, one is unhappy. That is all there is to it.
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What threatens civilization today is not war, but the changing conception of life values entailed by certain political doctrines. Only by recapturing the dream of human freedom and restoring the importance of the common man's liberties can that undermining threat to modern civilization be averted
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Reality - Dreams = Animal Being Reality + Dreams = A Heart-Ache (usually called Idealism) Reality + Humor = Realism (also called Conservatism) Dreams - Humor = Fanaticism Dreams + Humor = Fantasy Reality + Dreams + Humor = Wisdom
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Art is both creation and recreation.
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The wise man reads both books and life itself.
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All women's dresses, in every age and country, are merely variations on the eternal struggle between the admitted desire to dress and the unadmitted desire to undress.
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What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?
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The world I believe is far too serious, and being far too serious ... it has need of a wise and merry philosophy.
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Let him cry whoever feels like crying, for we were animals before we became reasoning beings, and the shedding of a tear, whether of forgiveness or of pity or of sheer delight at beauty, will do him a lot of good.
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The age calls for simple statements and restatements of simple truths. The prophets of doom are involved, those who would bring light must be clear.
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No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.
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The fonder you are of your ideals, the greater your heartbreaks.
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If man be sensible and one fine morning, while he is lying in bed, counts at the tips of his fingers how many things in this life truly will give him enjoyment, invariably he will find food is the first one.
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Happiness has always seemed like a bluebird, and consists of moments.
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On the whole, the enjoyment of leisure is something which decidedly costs less than the enjoyment of luxury. All it requires is an artistic temperament which is bent on seeking a perfectly useless afternoon spent in a perfectly useless manner.
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All human happiness is sensuous happiness.
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Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice.
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No man is inherently respectable, but all women are by nature.
Lin Yutang