Qiu Xiaolong > Quotes

“If you work hard enough at something, it begins to make itself part of you, even though you do not really like it and know that part isn't real.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine

“The wind languished. The floral curtain ceased flapping. The moonlight streamed through, lighting up her face. It was a young, animated face. At that moment, it touched a string, a peg, deep inside him.”
― Qiu Xiaolong

“Al fin y al cabo, un hombre es sólo lo que ha decidido hacer o no hacer.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine

“Tripes, poumons, coeur de porc, etc., tout cela cuit à la vapeur avec du vin de riz.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, The Mao Case

“El cielo o el infierno están en nuestra cabeza, no en las cosas materiales que poseemos.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine

“Mientras pensamos en el presente, se está convirtiendo en pasado.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine

“Un amico in un momento nero è un amico per davvero.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Shanghai Redemption

“No son las personas las que hacen las interpretaciones sino las interpretaciones las que hacen a las personas.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine

“After all, a man is only what he has decided to do, or not to do.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine

“I was reminded of a proverb: 'When a clay Buddha statue sails across the river, it can hardly protect itself.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Enigma of China

“407Justice was like coloured balls in a magician's hand, changing colour and shape all the time beneath the light of politics.”
― Qiu Xiaolong

“Once again, Judge Dee wished he too could write a poem like hers, but he had reached an age, he told himself, when he could admit what was beyond him. So many years he had wasted playing politics, which, unlike poetry, would not survive him.”
― Xiaolong Qiu

“If you work hard enough at something, it begins to make itself part of you, even though you do not really like it and know that part isn’t real.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine

“Among them, there was a glass bowl containing live shrimp immersed in white liquor. The drunken shrimp were still jumping, though less and less energetically.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Red Mandarin Dress

“According to our Tang dynasty poet Du Fu, people do not write well when they are happy. If you are content with life, you simply want to enjoy it.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, A Loyal Character Dancer

“«Una mujer se embellece para el hombre que sabe apreciarla».”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Seda roja

“My life began with you, and my future goes on with you—there’s nothing else.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, When Red Is Black

“Heaven or hell is in one’s mind, not in the material things one has in the world,”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine

“Si le damos la vuelta al nido ni un solo huevo quedará intacto, aunque puede que las grietas no sean visibles.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Red Mandarin Dress

“No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, When Red Is Black

“Life is like the footprint left by a solitary crane in the snow, visible for one moment, and then gone.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, A Loyal Character Dancer

“Quizá la identidad de una persona sólo pueda definirse en relación a las identidades de los demás. O quizá cualquier identidad no sea más que una interpretación de los demás”
― Qiu Xiaolong, The Mao Case

“Erano gente comune, lui e Peiqin, grandi lavoratori che si accontentavano di poco. Una gena di granchi come quelli della serata passata li poteva rendere felici, eccitati, le piccole cose duravano a lungo per loro: un film nel fine settimana, una visita al Parco delle Meraviglie, la canzone di una nuova cassetta, o una felpa con Topolino per Qinqin. A volte lui si lamentava come tutti gli altri, ma in verità si considerava un tipo fortunato. Una moglie meravigliosa, uno splendido figlio. Cos'altro c'era di importante sulla faccia della terra?”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine

“if you memorize three hundred Tang poems, you might be able to write a little.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Shanghai Redemption

“History is like a mirror, capable of showing what a man really is”
― Qiu Xiaolong, When Red Is Black

“A desperately sick man will seek help from any doctor.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Shanghai Redemption

“Permítame que le haga una pregunta. ¿Qué convierte en buena una historia? –La credibilidad.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Seda roja

“L'histoire n'était pas une tache de sauce soja aisément essuyée par une serviette rose dans la main d'une jolie jeune fille comme celle qui le conduisait à présent à sa table, près de la grande porte-fenêtre.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine

“Para Shen, un vestido no era un mero trozo de tela, sino una imagen llena de significados y de asociaciones.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Seda roja

“What are you reading?” “Visual Basics.” The answer did not fit the picture in his mind. But it should not be surprising, he thought. He, too, had been taking an evening class on Windows applications.”
― Qiu Xiaolong, Death of a Red Heroine