Zhiwen Liu Quotes

When it comes to politics, it's best to see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
That's a philosophy a lot of my monkeys used to share, said the Monkey King. But I disagree with it. ~ Ken Liu

As the moon rose, I saw the light illuminate an ancient quote from the Ano Classics, carved into one of the broken lintels: 'All life is an experiment. ~ Ken Liu

People in my hometown seldom called me piao liang, [beautiful] because my smaller eyes were a far cry from the wide irises of the most beloved television actresses. ~ Liu Wen

We're all better off ... when we're all better off. ~ Eric Liu

I don't pay much attention to the distinction between fantasy and science fiction–or between "genre" and "mainstream" for that matter. For me, all fiction is about prizing the logic of metaphors-which is the logic of narratives in general–over reality, which is irreducibly random and senseless.

We spend our entire lives trying to tell stories about ourselves–they're the essence of memory. It is how we make living in this unfeeling accidental universe tolerable. That we call such a tendency "the narrative fallacy" doesn't mean it doesn't also touch upon some aspect of the truth.

Some stories simply literalize their metaphors a bit more explicitly. ~ Ken Liu

The way my father saw it, whether the Manchus on the mainland or the Japanese were in charge didn't much matter, since they all left us alone except when it came time for taxes. ~ Ken Liu

In the end no segregationist scheme has withstood the force of a simple idea: equality under law. ~ Eric Liu

I always admired Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk - but I don't know if I'd be a very convincing hulk. ~ Lucy Liu

But in a time of war, knowledge made interesting friendships. Soon, the scholars and the thieves were . . . well, thick as thieves. ~ Ken Liu

Certain temperaments respond to anxiety by pulling inward. Their instincts tell them ' Don't go out to meet the world - you'll have a panic attack. Inside is where safety is. ~ Aimee Liu

Time's arrow is the loss of fidelity in compression. A sketch, not a photograph. A memory is a re-creation, precious because it is both more and less than the original. ~ Ken Liu

Tiangong 1, our home in space, was comfortable and pleasant. ~ Liu Yang

The more transparent something was, the more mysterious it seemed. The universe itself was transparent; as long as you were sufficiently sharp-eyed, you could see as far as you liked. But the farther you looked, the more mysterious it became. ~ Liu Cixin

He lacked the ability to thrive in society, but also the resources to ignore it. All he could do was hang on to the edge, suffering. ~ Liu Cixin

The animals will stop moving when I stop breathing. But if I write to you with all my heart, I'll leave a little of myself behind on this paper, in these words. Then, if you think of me on Qingming, when the spirits of the departed are allowed to visit their families, you'll make the parts of myself I leave behind come alive too. The creatures I made for you will again leap and run and pounce, and maybe you'll get to see these words then. ~ Ken Liu

In this world, can everyone be dehydrated and rehydrated? ~ Liu Cixin

After watching my first World Series in 1977, I wanted to be Reggie Jackson. I bought a big Reggie poster. I ate Reggie candy bars. I entered a phase during which I insisted on having the same style of glasses Reggie had: gold wire frames with the double bar across. ~ Eric Liu

I would encourage more development in the boroughs outside of Manhattan as well. I think it's great that this natural emergence has occurred in the lower part of Midtown, but there's tremendous potential in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island as well. ~ John Liu

The universe is big, but life is bigger! ~ Cixin Liu

Mazoti said nothing. It always seemed that no matter how hard a woman worked, a man could eclipse her with no effort. "Gin, ~ Ken Liu

There are no heroes, Tian Haoli. Grand Secretary Shi was both courageous and cowardly, capable and foolish. Wang Xiuchu was both an opportunistic survivor and a man of greatness of spirit. I'm mostly selfish and vain, but sometimes even I surprise myself. We're all just ordinary men - well, I'm an ordinary demon - faced with extraordinary choices. In those moments, sometimes heroic ideals demand that we become their avatars. ~ Ken Liu

But burning was their fate; they were the generation meant to be consumed by fire. ~ Liu Cixin

One has to be careful, whenever one tells a story about a great injustice. We are a species that loves narrative, but has been taught not to trust an individual speaker. ~ Ken Liu

The entire empire has sunk into a quagmire of extravagance from which they cannot extricate themselves. ~ Liu Cixin

They call us monsters because it makes it easier to hurt us. But monsters are people, too. ~ Marjorie M. Liu

Well I have to jam but let me know if you want to talk or if, like, you want any additional info on Hsin. I may not be close to him as a person but I'm kind of a Vega lexicon. I've studied him like a creeper for a while. It's a little gross. This obsession should really stop sometime before they think I'm a stalker. ~ Ais

I hope that I will be the last victim in China's long record of treating words as crimes. ~ Liu Xiaobo

Intellectuals always make a fuss about nothing. ~ Liu Cixin

I collect a lot of eco-friendly shopping bags that serve to separate my shoes other and other small stuff in my luggage. ~ Liu Wen

He was young, no older than fifteen, pale and dark-haired, wearing jeans and a soft white T-shirt that had SHAKESPEARE HATES YOUR EMO POEMS written across the chest. ~ Marjorie M. Liu