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“I always ask myself one question: what is human? What does it mean to be human? Maybe people will consider my new films brutal again. But this violence is just a reflection of what they really are, of what is in each one of us to certain degree.”
― Kim Ki-duk

“Since you came to birth in this world at this time, in this place, and with this particular destiny, it was this indeed that you wanted and required for your own ultimate illumination. That was a great big wonderful thing that you thereupon brought to pass: not the "you" of course, that you now suppose yourself to be, but the "you" that was already there before you were born. You are not now to lose your nerve! Go on through with it and play your own game all the way!”
― Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By

“Hold fast to the mountain, take root in a broken-up bluff, grow stronger after tribulations, and withstand the buffering wind from all directions.”
― Zheng Xie

“it is a warning to those who would be warned and a lesson to those who would learn.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“you're the fly on the wall hearing all, seeing all

ears of a wall hearing all the secrets

perhaps you're the vines creeping over

the old abandoned mansion walls

dusty, soulless and dead

bringing a certain curious life to rubble

and I think you're the jewel-eyed gecko

sneaking around the warm summer walls

between jasmine and olive branches

sticky pad toes, clinging to the walls

peeking in at lonely summer spicy love-making

through silk curtains from the bright orient

breathing in incense and tasting decadence

climbing the sharply barbed walls

the smooth cemented white-washed walls

because walls breathe too”
― Moonshine Noire

“Fate laughs at men’s schemes.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“Escoffier set the table. He'd found a Japanese kimono, an obvious prop from some theater production, to use as a tablecloth. Paris had secretly fallen in love with all things oriental. It was red silk brocade, covered with a flock of white flying cranes, and made from a single bolt of fabric. The neckline and cuffs were thickly stained with stage makeup but the kimono itself was quite beautiful. It ran the length of the thin table. The arms overhung one end.
Outside the building he'd seen a garden with a sign that read "Please do not pick." But it was, after all, for a beautiful woman. Who would deny him? And so Escoffier cut a bouquet of white flowers: roses, peonies and a spray of lilies, with rosemary stalks to provide the greenery. He placed them in a tall water glass and then opened the basket of food he'd brought. He laid out the china plates so that they rested between the cranes, and then the silver knives, forks and spoons, and a single crystal glass for her champagne. Even though it was early afternoon, he'd brought two dozen candles.
The food had to be served 'à la française'; there were no waiters to bring course after course. So he kept it simple. Tartlets filled with sweet oysters from Arcachon and Persian caviar, chicken roasted with truffles, a warm baguette, 'pâté de foie gras,' and small sweet strawberries served on a bed of sugared rose petals and candied violets.”
― N.M. Kelby, White Truffles in Winter

“He put one of his heavy crystal perfume bottles into her hand. A big one with an old-fashioned silk puffer spray. She looked at the label and saw it wasn't the one she'd sprayed on her wrist, but the first cap she'd smelled and hadn't liked so much. It was called the Darkest Hour.
"I know you like Half Past Eight more," said Guy. "You think you're not a spicy-orientals girl, with your Celtic blood and your dry skin; I read your blog, I know about your fetish for chypre fragrances. It's the oakmoss and patchouli combo alongside the burned lemon you're responding to in Half Past Eight."
Polly had to laugh.
"Bang to rights," she said. "Halfway to chypre paradise...”
― Maggie Alderson, The Scent of You

“Oakmoss, patchouli, bergamot, labdanum, in the balance you constantly shift and nuance like a conductor, but dancing on top of that tonka, a hint of leather and a cheeky reference to Miss Dior, with some carnation. I think there will be ambergris and sandalwood in the dry-down, and I can't wait to see how it smells in the middle of the night.”
― Maggie Alderson, The Scent of You

“The overpowering oriental out that had first led her there was tempered now by a much more varied and subtle fragrance palette. She could pick up strong threads of the most classic florals, rose, lily of the valley, magnolia, which Guy would have turned his nose up at before, alongside the more Mediterranean jasmine and neroli, with the warm notes of sandalwood and tonka, balanced by the bite of citrus.”
― Maggie Alderson, The Scent of You

“Essas considerações levam‑me sempre a imaginar quão
diferente seria o aspecto atual da nossa sociedade caso
uma cultura científica única, diversa da ocidental, houvesse prosperado no Oriente. Por exemplo, se tivéssemos
desenvolvido física ou química únicas, exclusivamente
nossas, não teriam, tanto a tecnologia como a indústria
nelas baseadas, se desenvolvido de maneira diferente e,
por conseguinte, dado origem a incontáveis pequenos inventos, bem como a remédios e a artefatos mais ajustados
às características do nosso povo? Melhor ainda, os próprios princípios da física e da química se baseariam em
visões diferentes das ocidentais, e tanto a natureza como
o desempenho de fenômenos como luz, eletricidade e átomo apresentariam agora aspectos diferentes daqueles que
hoje conhecemos.”
― Junichiro Tanizaki

“The story I have to tell is truly a strange one, and were the entirety to be tattooed at the corner of one’s eye, the marvel of its presentation would not exceed that of the events recounted, for it is a warning to those who would be warned and a lesson to those who would learn.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“He offered an explanation, speaking of his search for tiny pores in the skin of reality, like the holes that worms bore into wood, and how upon finding one he was able to expand and stretch it the way a glassblower turns a dollop of molten glass into a long-necked pipe, and how he then allowed time to flow like water at one mouth while causing it to thicken like syrup at the other.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“Raniya had been flush with anticipation for this moment, and so was surprised to find that Hassan’s movements were clumsy and awkward. She remembered their wedding night very clearly; he had been confident, and his touch had taken her breath away. She knew Hassan’s first meeting with the young Raniya was not far away, and for a moment did not understand how this fumbling boy could change so quickly. And then of course the answer was clear. So every afternoon for many days, Raniya met Hassan at her rented house and instructed him in the art of love, and in doing so she demonstrated that, as is often said, women are Allah’s most wondrous creation. She told him, “The pleasure you give is returned in the pleasure you receive,�� and inwardly she smiled as she thought of how true her words really were.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“for like infernal fire, grief burns but does not consume; instead, it makes the heart vulnerable to further suffering.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“infernal fire, grief burns but does not consume; instead, it makes the heart vulnerable to further suffering.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“Si nuestras vidas son cuentos que cuenta Alá, entonces somos la audiencia y los protagonistas al mismo tiempo, y es a fuerza de vivir esos cuentos como recibimos nuestras enseñanzas.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“Por un momento no tuve claro si estaba soñando o despierto, porque me sentía como si acabase de entrar en un cuento, y la idea de que podría hablar con sus protagonistas y participar en los acontecimientos me produjo vértigo”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“Pasemos ahora al «general» que tenemos en el cuerpo, el gan, o sea el hígado. Si nos causa gracia esta imaginería china de órganos internos, y nos parece ridícula y «poco científica», no olvidemos que esta analogía en realidad es más profunda que el concepto occidental del corazón como una bomba, los pulmones como sacos de aire, o la vesícula biliar como un saco de almacenamiento.”
― Wong Kiew Kit, The Complete Book of Chinese Medicine: A holistic Approach to Physical, Emotional and Mental Health

“Just as we grow to understand the purpose of customs that seemed pointless to us in our youth,”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“Hassan stared at the boy for a long moment, and then his anger faded, and he let him go. When next he saw his older self, Hassan asked him, “Why did you not warn me about the pickpocket?�� “Did you not enjoy the experience?”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“He waved his hand. “I do not sell passage through the Gate,�� he said. “Allah guides whom he wishes to my shop, and I am content to be an instrument of his will.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“If our lives are tales that Allah tells, then we are the audience as well as players, and it is by living these tales that we receive their lessons.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“O mighty Caliph and Commander of the Faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence; a man can hope for no greater blessing as long as he lives.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“Four things do not come back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“It is said that repentance and atonement erase the past.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“Four things do not come back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity,�� and”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“it is by living these tales that we receive their lessons.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“I spoke to a mullah about what I had done, and it was he who told me that repentance and atonement erase the past.”
― Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

“For we who were Occidentals have now become Orientals. He who was a Roman or a Frank has in this land been made into a Galilean or a Palestinian. He who was of Rheims of Chartres has now become a citizen of Tyre or Antioch.
We have already forgotten the places of our birth; already these are unknown to many of us or not mentioned anymore.

Our relatives and parents join us from time to time, sacrificing. Even though reluctantly, all that they formerly possessed.

Those who were poor in the Occident, God makes rich in this land. Those who had little money there, have countless bezants here, and those who did not have a villa possess here by the gift of God a city.

Therefore, why should one return to the Occident who has found the Orient like this?”
― Fulcher of Chartres, A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem, 1095-1127