
Source: The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1977), p.57
As quoted in World Authors 1950–1970 (1975) by J. Wakeman, pp. 221–223
Source: The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1977), p.57
“I gave up the love of learning for the love of oblivion—the two cannot live together.”
Source: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, To Green Angel Tower (1993), Part 1, Chapter 9, “Pages in an Old Book” (p. 296).
The Chinese Novel (1938)
Context: I grew up believing that the novel has nothing to do with pure literature. So I was taught by scholars. The art of literature, so I was taught, is something devised by men of learning. Out of the brains of scholars came rules to control the rush of genius, that wild fountain which has its source in deepest life. Genius, great or less, is the spring, and art is the sculptured shape, classical or modern, into which the waters must be forced, if scholars and critics were to be served. But the people of China did not so serve. The waters of the genius of story gushed out as they would, however the natural rocks allowed and the trees persuaded, and only common people came and drank and found rest and pleasure. For the novel in China was the peculiar product of the common people. And it was solely their property.
Source: Introduction to semantics, 1962, p. 316
Da Costa, Jacob M. The Higher Professional Life: Valedictory Address to the Graduating Class of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott & Co, 1883.
Nobel autobiography (1975)