Can Xue > Quotes

“The thing I love watching most is the swirling cotton candy. The contraption for making it is like a flat-bottomed pan. One puts sugar in it, turns the crank, and after a while, a large shimmering ball emerges; it’s like cotton—and like silk, too. Indeed, there’s nothing lovelier.”
― Can Xue, Vertical Motion

“As I drank my coffee, I listened attentively, but I heard nothing. I thought, maybe this is because there’s too much noise in my world.”
― Can Xue

“To show my revulsion, I jumped on the tea table several times and pretended it was an accident when I knocked the phone off the hook so that there couldn’t be any incoming calls.”
― Can Xue, Vertical Motion

“If you believed in something like this, it was true; if you didn’t believe in it, it wasn’t.”
― Can Xue, Vertical Motion

“Behind everyone, there are at least two shadows. Some have even more. [...] The shadows on the ground are like folding fans. Looking at them makes me dizzy. [...] It takes a lot of strength for me to focus my eyes enough to pull the doubled shadows into one. Of course, this isn't at all pleasurable. [...] All of you are so smug. It's ridiculous! If I tell the truth, you'll be furious again. You'll think I'm a mayfly. You'll agree with each other by exchanging understanding glances in order to set your minds at ease.”
― Can Xue

“The poplars were a symbol. It was only the light from behind the poplars that made their silhouettes visible.”
― Can Xue, Frontier

“The bird still didn’t move. Mrs. Yun thought it had discerned her deepest, innermost ideas. Actually, she herself didn’t know exactly what those ideas were.”
― Can Xue, Vertical Motion

“When I write, I intentionally erase any knowledge from my mind.”
― Can Xue, Blue Light in the Sky & Other Stories

“The old woman finally went bankrupt. She had made so much money every day, how could she have gone bankrupt? I didn’t get it.”
― Can Xue, Vertical Motion

“I've lost you and I have to pass throug many more cities. With a false hope, I walk and walk.
Then the deep sleep, the cold flame burns again, it's brillaint spark penetrating the vital organs of my body.

The spark belongs to me in reality, yet I recognized it in your eyes. Maybe we have the same type of eyes. Maybe the spark from one's eyes can light those of the other, though our own soul is always in chaos. We can only recognize ourselves inn each others eyes.”
― Can Xue, Dialogues in Paradise

“He lives in his memories”
― Can Xue, Frontier

“At that moment the rooster was a tiny, light brown, fluffy ball. No clues to future developments could yet be discerned. All existence went along happily under the will of heaven. With the accelerating motion of nonexistence, unstable embarrassing details gradually displaced themselves.”
― Can Xue, The Embroidered Shoes: Stories

“She realized that she no longer feared losing her way. At the same time she felt amazement at her former misunderstanding of the concept of losing the way. How could she have misunderstood for decades?”
― Can Xue, The Last Lover

“After thoroughly inspecting his domicile, I, a cat of some breeding, chose the rug beneath the tea table as my bedroom.”
― Can Xue, Vertical Motion

“His wrinkled face showed the changes he had seen.”
― Can Xue, Blue Light in the Sky & Other Stories

“I've lost you and I have to pass through many more cities. With a false hope, I walk and walk.

Then the deep sleep, the cold flame burns again, it's brilliant spark penetrating the vital organs of my body.

The spark belongs to me in reality, yet I recognized it in your eyes. Maybe we have the same type of eyes. Maybe the spark from one's eyes can light those of the other, though our own soul is always in chaos. We can only recognize ourselves in each others eyes. In the deadly, sleeping, empty city prowls a wolf. In the blue sky hangs a lonely golden hook.”
― Can Xue, Dialogues in Paradise

“I was constantly bothered by the question: "Do our voices each the outside world?"

Finally, I shouted loudly, "Is anyone there?"

It was very quiet in the wilds. The indifferent sun besprinkled our bodies. That eternal spheroid was located in the distance. My voice rotated like a propeller, never leaving its original place. After a while, it faded away.”
― Can Xue, Blue Light in the Sky & Other Stories