Yu Qiuyu > Quotes

“一切发现都不是逻辑思维的结果，尽管那些结果看起来很接近逻辑规律。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“政治便是这样，低调维持平静，强势带来危机，佛罗伦萨在不知不觉间变得风声鹤唳，云谲波诡起来。最辉煌的收获季节必然也是多事之秋，聪明的罗伦佐很快就领悟到了这一点。他进退有度，并不怎么迷恋权势，愿意分出更多的时间与专家们讨论古希腊哲学，”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“Excessive purity is like a glass plate. It may be highly polished and crystal bright, but it is still small, thin, fragile. One day, some slight pressure will crack it, and it will cut your fingers.
And, in any event, isn’t glass a compound? Can it really claim purity?”
― Yu Qiuyu

“除了少数逃罪人员和受骗人员，正常意义上的远行者总是人世间比较优秀的群落。他们如果没有特别健康的情志和体魄，何以脱离早已调适了的生命温室去领受漫长而陌生的时空折磨？天天都可能遭遇意外，时时都需要面对未知，许多难题超越精神贮备，大量考验关乎生死安危，如果没有比较健全的人格，只能半途而返。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“Qu Yuan himself would never have imagined that he would generate ironies that would last for over two thousand years of China’s history. The ironies are twofold. For one, everyone knows Qu Yuan as a “poet patriot”, but in his poetry his theme is clearly “leaving” his country. He protected Chu against Qin, but it was Qin that unified China after he was gone. Qin created the first true Chinese nation that would inspire patriotic love. For another, his songs of Chu are deep and elaborate, written in a style that commoners would be quite unable to read, but he has become a universal folk hero. The Dragon Boat Festival, in his honor, is an occasion for national celebration all across the country. Chinese from Qin applaud him as much as those from Chu; the uneducated and the educated together drink to his name.”
― Yu Qiuyu

“一所世界级的学府在自己门前留下如此一景，是一种铭记，一种警示，也是一种坦陈：烧书的是我们自己的学生，一切文化的毁损行为，都有文化的名义和身份，因此匆匆路人啊，不要对这里过于信任！ 这便是大学的良心。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“与他们相反，真正值得信任的知识分子总是宽容而虚心，他们承认世界的神秘本质，深感自己的渺小无知，却又秉承人类的良心，关注着社会上一切美好的事物，他们能使世界更美好……”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“这是一个危险的信号，起因就在于人们迟迟不敢用坚实而透明的方法把灾难的史迹保存下来。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“店是祖辈传下的，半关着门，不希望有太多的顾客进来，因为这是早就定下的规模，不会穷，也不会富，正合适，穷了富了都是负担。因此，他们不是在博取钱财，而是在固守一种生态。 欧洲生活的平和、厚重、恬淡，部分地与此有关。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“When Li Bai turned back to poetry, the clouds rose in formation to see him off, the river stood as witness, and the monkeys cheered for him. The landscape itself stood aside to make way for his passage. His increasingly weighty ship of life was transformed back to a light skiff.”
― Yu Qiuyu

“一个王朝，一段历史，居然结束得这样平和，因此，连阿汗拉布拉宫里最细微的花纹直到今天还在完好无损地微笑。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“他说，知识分子比别人有更广泛的思考背景，由此产生更普遍的责任。这固然不错，但这种情况也可能产生反面效果。有些知识分子自以为参透了世界的奥秘，把握了人间的真理，便企图框范天下，指责万象，结果制造恐怖，甚至谋求独裁，历史上很多丑恶的独裁者都是知识分子出身。这样的知识分子现在要掌握大权已有困难，但一直在发出迷人的呼叫，或以不断的骚扰企图引起人们注意，我们应该提防他们，拒绝他们。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“在当时的情况下，中国的公使夫人能用德语参加交际，已经非常不容易。语言问题在中国近代外交史上一直是一个魔障，开始只能请一些传教士和商人帮忙，错误百出，后来有些翻译人员还因被官府怀疑“通番”而被杀，外交上产生了疙瘩，也总是把责任推到翻译身上。这种情况，直到民国之后开始起用留学生做外交人员，才有根本的改变。赛金花学德语，是超前地把自己放到了与外国人直接沟通的第一线，但后来，人们根据那些编撰的传奇故事，还是怀疑她有以语言和色相在北京“通番”的可能，因为这才符合她的早期身份。 ……”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“市民是善于厌倦的，因为他们的居息方式密集而流通，”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“大凡至今轰传的历史胜迹，总是生生不息、吐纳百代的独特秉赋。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 文化苦旅

“From our perspective, many, many years later, there are a few comments to make on this dispute between the Confucians and the Mohists. On the issue of love, the Confucians are more realistic. They leverage the self-interest that all people have, and build circles around it, extending it outward. That means that the Confucian ideal is quite practical as a social model. The Mohists were more idealistic. They thought that the self-interest of Confucians was unacceptable, which made their universal love difficult to put into practice.
If you ask me which side I lean toward, I can answer without hesitation: the Mohists. They may have been impractical, but they brought into the world a pure ideal of love. This ideal is like light from the heavens. We cannot touch it, but it illuminates us. Confucian benevolence is too caught up in its distinctions between insiders and outsiders, turning human relationships into a labyrinth from which we have not managed to escape even today. Of course, imperfect love is better than no love at all. For those crushed by the pitiless wheels of history, Confucian love was something to yearn for.”
― Yu Qiuyu

“Self-centeredness became both poetry’s greatness and its weakness. Great because the whole world became the self, a landscape across which the poet capered at will. Weak because even the breeze became an enemy, the turning of the seasons a cause for fear. The falling of a flower became unbearable, birdsong and wilting grass a torment.”
― Yu Qiuyu

“其实，就人生而言，也应平衡于山、水之间。水边给人喜悦，山地给人安慰。水边让我们感知世界无常，山地让我们领悟天地恒昌。水边让我们享受脱离长辈怀抱的远行刺激，山地让我们体验回归祖先居所的悠悠厚味。水边的哲学是不舍昼夜，山地的哲学是不知日月。 正因为如此，我想，一个人年轻时可以观海弄潮、择流而居，到了老年，或者不到老年而有了静定心态，则不妨在山地落脚。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“外涂的脂粉证明不了身份，涂得太浓，倒会成为反面证明。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“塞维利亚，因奇异的历史，因多民族的组合，因理性的薄弱和感官的丰裕，因一个个艺术灵魂的居住和流浪，使每个角落都充满了弹性。这里没有固定主题，一切都有可能发生；这里早就属于市民，互相之间不予侵凌；这里从来不设范本，人人都是艺术典型；这里的神秘不阴暗，几乎近于透明；这里的欢乐不羼假，比忧伤还要认真。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“怪诞中也包含着常理：给别人带来麻烦的人，很可能正在承受着远比别人严重的灾难，但人们总习惯把麻烦的制造者看得过于强悍。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“政治模式和文明模式，在这件事情上南辕北辙。萨伏纳洛拉实行的是宗教极端主义和禁欲主义，如市民们原来听他演讲中批判美第奇家族的奢侈时觉得大快人心，现在美第奇家族已倒，那么对不起，请所有市民把家里可能保存的奢侈品全部交出来，当众焚毁；不仅一切娱乐被禁止，连正常的结婚也不受鼓励，全面禁欲，其严厉程度，不但在佛罗伦萨历史上，而且在意大利历史上也是从七世纪之后从未有过。文艺复兴中涌现的许多艺术作品，也被看成是不道德的东西，大批投入火海。于是，一座生气勃勃的城市，转眼成了文化上的死城。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“如果大车必然要倒，妄图去扶持反而是一种骚扰；如果历史已无意于罗马，励精图治反而是一种反动。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“对于重要的历史，任何掩饰的后果只能是歪曲。灾难是一部历史，对灾难的阐释过程也是一部历史，而后一部历史又很容易制造新的灾难。要想避免这种新的灾难，唯一的办法是不作掩饰，就像这儿，哪怕发生在地下书库，也要开一个天窗，让它暴露在光天化日之下，裸呈于后代子孙眼前。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“到奥地利才懂得，只有当人们收敛自我，才能享受最完美的自然，而农村的最高魅力，就是自然。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“文化无界，流荡天下，因此一座城市的文化浓度，主要取决于它的吸引力，而不是生产力；”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“希特勒的演讲不在乎逻辑，不在乎论证，却有一套有效的心理鼓动程序，在这方面实在堪称专家。他一般是哑着嗓子开头，似重病在身，似喁喁私语，与刚才慷慨激昂的其他演讲者一比好像不合时宜，但这种反差却立即打破了听众对演讲惯性的厌倦，全都提起精神来侧耳细听。就这么讲了一会儿，冷不丁地，他突然咆哮，一声比一声响，似口号，似反问，似呼吁，这自然把全场搅得掌声如潮。掌声未落他又轻声，没几句又转向洪亮。此后，高低声腔更替的频率加快，最后几乎全身用力，手舞足蹈，又戛然而止。这么一闹，无异于在一把把揉压全场听众的情绪，最后当然会迸发成集体疯狂。但是应该看到，正因为被揉压的万千心灵在当时有共同的脆弱、共同的敏感、共同的亢奋，才会贪婪地吸食他那些并不连贯的句子而陷入痴迷状态。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“问：爱因斯坦先生，请问，死亡对您意味着什么？ 答：意味着不能再听莫扎特。”
― Yu Qiuyu, 行者无疆

“要是我忘了你， 愿我的双手枯萎，不再弹琴； 要是我忘了你， 愿我的舌头僵硬，不再歌吟！”
― Yu Qiuyu, 千年一叹

“Another peak rises above you. High, elegant, it draws you, but looking down there is a forest blocking your path. The forest is dark, the way is rough; strange fogs confuse the trees; you hear growls on one side, howls on the other. It is a fearful route but, for the bold adventurer, this makes it all the more imperative to find a way through. Not just for the high peak that waits on the other side, but the forest itself contains infinite riches of beauty.
If I may, I would like to look at a part of our history as just such a journey. The Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty are plainly commanding heights in our history. They were such powerful empires and cultures that I sometimes like to refer to all of Chinese civilization as Han-Tang culture. But we must not forget that between the high points of the Han and the Tang, there was a deep thicket of history: the wars of the Three Kingdoms, the brief and troubled Jin Dynasties, and the divided China of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
Within this dark forest, there was no certainty, no single universe under watchful skies. There was no unity of vision: Everywhere was chaos and conflict; every moment was flight and death. Conspiracies sprouted in all corners. The names we know from that time trailed drama in their wake, but all the chaos, all the disruption did not douse the human spirit.”
― Yu Qiuyu