Gao Xingjian Quotes

It's in literature that true life can be found. It's under the mask of fiction that you can tell the truth.

In the history of literature there are many great enduring works which were not published in the lifetimes of the authors. If the authors had not achieved self-affirmation while writing, how could they have continued to write?

Observing humans and observing oneself yields a clear-minded starting point for literature.

Writing eases my suffering . . . writing is my way of reaffirming my own existence.

Love is so holy, so confusing. It makes a man anxious, tormented. Love, how can I define it?

For me, writing [was] a question of survival...I could not trust anyone, even my family. The atmosphere was so poisoned. People even in your own family could turn you in.

You contemplate and you wander without any worries, between heaven and earth, in your own private world, and in this way you acquire supreme freedom.