Lin Yutang book The Importance of Living
Source: The Importance of Living (1937), Ch. I : The Awakening, pp. 4–5
This quote is itself quoting Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman in the film Grey Owl (1999)
Examples of self-translation (c. 2004), Quotes - Zitate - Citations - Citazioni
Lin Yutang book The Importance of Living
Source: The Importance of Living (1937), Ch. I : The Awakening, pp. 4–5
“Creatures of a day! What is a man?
What is he not? A dream of a shadow
Is our mortal being.”
Pindar (-517–-437 BC) Ancient Greek poet
Pythian 8, line 95-8; pages 162-3. (446 BC)
Context: Creatures of a day! What is a man?
What is he not? A dream of a shadow
Is our mortal being. But when there comes to men
A gleam of splendour given of Heaven,
Then rests on them a light of glory
And blesséd are their days.
Robert L. Heilbroner (1919–2005) American historian and economist
Source: The Future As History (1960), Chapter I, Part 3, The Future as the Mirror of the Past, p. 19
Henryk Sienkiewicz book Quo Vadis
Petronius, as depicted in the novel, speaking to Marcus Vinicius,<!-- entirely fictional character, NOT the historical figure. --> in Ch. 1
Quo Vadis (1895)
Context: Pliny declares, as I hear, that he does not believe in the gods, but he believes in dreams; and perhaps he is right. My jests do not prevent me from thinking at times that in truth there is only one deity, eternal, creative, all-powerful, Venus Genetrix. She brings souls together; she unites bodies and things. Eros called the world out of chaos. Whether he did well is another question; but, since he did so, we should recognize his might, though we are free not to bless it.
“The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”
John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach
“Man is a genius when he is dreaming.”
Akira Kurosawa (1910–1998) Japanese film maker
Variant: Man is a genius when he is dreaming.
“A man does what he can; a woman does what a man cannot.”
Isabel Allende book Inés of My Soul
Source: Inés of My Soul
“The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.”
John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic