Talk:Pearl S. Buck

There's got to be a lot more quotations worthy of Pearl Buck than just these two! Oct. 21, 05

Unsourced
Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to Pearl S. Buck. --Antiquary 19:32, 6 April 2009 (UTC)


 * A good marriage is one which allows for change and growth in the individuals and in the way they express their love.


 * Believing in gods always causes confusion.


 * Hunger makes a thief of any man.


 * I am comforted by life's stability, by earth's unchangeableness. What has seemed new and frightening assumes its place in the unfolding of knowledge. It is good to know our universe. What is new is only new to us.


 * I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.


 * Men would rather be starving and free than fed in bonds.


 * Once the 'what' is decided, the 'how' always follows. We must not make the 'how' an excuse for not facing and accepting the 'what.'


 * One faces the future with one's past.


 * Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.


 * Self-expression must pass into communication for its fulfillment.


 * The basic discovery about any people is the discovery of the relationship between its men and its women.


 * The true wisdom of life consists in seeing the extraordinary in the common.


 * To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.


 * To serve is beautiful, but only if it done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.


 * We send missionaries to China so the Chinese can get to heaven, but we won't let them into our country.


 * When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail.


 * Write a novel if you must, but think of money as an unlikely accident. Get your reward out of writing it, and try to be content with that.

Poor source
"The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Insiders Secrets from Hollywood's Top Writers" does not itself include a source for the quote that starts "The truly creative mind in any field..." so it isn't a good source to cite.

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/0413290808 this Amazon customer review says it's from this 1971 book, but I don't have the book to doublecheck

Item 21 of this book's bibliography lists the quote as being from a 1935 speech (the quote itself is on page 141)