Gao Xingjian

Novelist

People's Republic of China

1940 - Present

20 quotes

Showing 10 of 20 quotes

Various political parties, even if they're in direct opposition with one another, still say they are the spokesperson for the people. The writer must speak his own words and not get mixed up with politics.
Gao Xingjian
Freedom is the basic prerequisite for writing.
Gao Xingjian
As a male writer, women are always what men pursue, and their world is always a mystery. So I always tried to present as many views as possible on women's worlds.
Gao Xingjian
When I lived in China, my works were already being banned, and I couldn't publish. In those days, when I was in China, I was writing for myself, so that's the process of writing for myself that was the most important thing.
Gao Xingjian
Love is so holy, so confusing. It makes a man anxious, tormented. Love, how can I define it?
Gao Xingjian
If you're not perfectly conscious of yourself, that self can be tyrannical; in relationship to others, anyone can become a tyrant. That's why no one can be a Superman. You have to go beyond yourself with a 'third eye' - self-awareness - because the one thing you cannot flee is yourself.
Gao Xingjian
When I completed writing 'Soul Mountain,' I more or less closed the accounts with China for myself. I was 50 years old when I left, so China is already within me.
Gao Xingjian
A writer has to fully defend his rights and his own worth.
Gao Xingjian
Experience has taught me that any kind of political grouping is oppressive. It's the blind mass that crushes the individual.
Gao Xingjian
If you want to do anything, do it now, without compromise or concession, because you have only one life.
Gao Xingjian