Quotes from book
The Importance of Living

Lin Yutang
Lin Yutang photo

“True peace of mind comes from accepting the worst.”

Lin Yutang book The Importance of Living

Source: The Importance of Living (1937), p. 158

Lin Yutang photo

“What is patriotism but love of the good things we ate in our childhood? I have said elsewhere that the loyalty to Uncle Sam is the loyalty to doughnuts and ham and sweet potatoes and the loyalty to the German Vaterland is the loyalty to Pfannkuchen and Christmas Stollen.”

Lin Yutang book The Importance of Living

As for international understanding, I feel that macaroni has done more for our appreciation of Italy than Mussolini... in food, as in death, we feel the essential brotherhood of mankind.
Source: The Importance of Living (1937), Ch. IV : On Having A Stomach, p. 46

Lin Yutang photo

“My faith in human dignity consists in the belief that man is the greatest scamp on earth. Human dignity must be associated with the idea of a scamp and not with that of an obedient, disciplined and regimented soldier.”

Lin Yutang book The Importance of Living

Source: The Importance of Living (1937), Ch. I : The Awakening, p. 12