Happy Dreams Quotes

“the pair of us were inextricably linked together. We must have sinned against each other in a previous existence, so that each of us owed something to the other in this life.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“Past fifty, you’re neither pretty nor ugly. Past sixty, you’re neither man nor woman.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“Change what you can change, adapt to what you can’t change, put up with what you can’t adapt to, and let go of what you can’t put up with.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“Neon flickered in brilliant colors on the really fancy buildings, while the older blocks and the ones under scaffolding were dark and unlit. Everywhere the lights created fantastic, glittering shapes that changed as they flashed on and off, as if there were monsters living inside. The streets felt menacing, different from daytime, the cars transformed into roaming wild beasts, leopards and tigers, the people like brightly colored birds.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“I asked Wufu, “Do you know where your stomach is?” “No,” he said. “That’s good.” “Why is that good?” “It means it’s doing its job well.” “Wasting food, more like it,” he said. I was about to tell him that it’s bad when you become aware of where an organ is in your body, because it means it’s sick.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“Whenever the weather was wet and gloomy, sort of “yin,” I always found myself thinking of Yichun, I don’t know why. Maybe because when heaven and earth seemed to mingle, women and men had the urge to mingle their yin and yang as well.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“If you meet someone who's a complete stranger, but you feel you recognize them, or for some reason you feel drawn to them, mark my words, it's because they were a relative or friend in a former life. That's karma.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“(Those skyscrapers were like the wooden chests with hundreds of drawers that held ingredients in a Chinese medicine shop and reached all the way to the ceiling. Did people never get the wrong door?) The flocks of pretty women were enough to make you lose your head, but they were gone in a flash, as fleeting as beautiful clouds floating across the sky, ephemeral and forgettable.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“We’ve come to Xi’an of our own accord, and we have to accept it as it is. It isn’t as good as what we imagined, but it’s nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be. We have to put up with it, there’s no use complaining. It only makes it more difficult to have a good life here. We have to get Xi’an to accept us, Wufu. We have to believe we can live well here, and see things differently. For instance, if you see a tree by the road that’s been blown over by the wind, think of it as our tree and go straighten it. Or if a fancy car stops in front”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“It was a noisy old machine, except for the bell, which didn't make any noise.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“The man of virtue pursues morality; ordinary folk fill their bellies.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“I used a lump of coal to scratch a notice on the wall by the entrance: "Pissing and shitting strictly forbidden. Offenders will be punished." It had no effect at all. Later, I added a new notice: "Beware, haunted house." That put a stop to it.”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams

“husk”
― Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams