Cixin Liu: The Supernova Era

Cixin Liu: Wandering Earth

Qian Zhongshu: Fortress Besieged

Marriage is like a fortress besieged: those who are outside want to get in, and those who are inside want to get out.

Ge Fei: The Invisibility Cloak

"Do you mind if I contribute my thoughts to this one? If you could just stop nitpicking and dissecting every little thing, if you could learn to keep one eye closed and one eye open, and quit worrying about everything, you might discover life is pretty fucking beautiful. Am I right?”


My experience dealing with professors has taught me that educated people have the ability to demean a person with a single glance.


The best attributes of anyone or anything usually reside on the surface, which is where, in fact, all of us live out our lives. Everyone has an inner life, but it's best if we leave it alone. For as soon as you poke a hole through that paper window, most of what's inside simply won't stand up to scrutiny.

Cixin Liu: Death's End

“Weakness and ignorance are not barriers to survival, but arrogance is.”


“If we lose our human nature, we lose much, but if we lose our bestial nature, we lose everything.”


“And now we know that this is the journey that must be made by every civilization: awakening inside a cramped cradle, toddling out of it, taking flight, flying faster and farther, and, finally, merging with the fate of the universe as one. The ultimate fate of all intelligent beings has always been to become as grand as their thoughts.”


“Hide yourself well; cleanse well.”


“Because the universe is not a fairy tale.”


On the day of the universe's Last Judgment, two humans and a robot belonging to the Earth and Trisolaran civilizations embraced each other in ecstasy.


“Even Coca-Cola probably tasted medicinal the first time you tried it. Anything addictive is like that.”


“Time is the cruelest force of all.”


“The universe is but a corpse puffing up.”


"Mere existence is already the result of incredible luck. Such was the case on Earth in the past, and such has always been the case in this cruel universe. But at some point, humanity began to develop the illusion that they’re entitled to life, that life can be taken for granted.”


“A bottomless abyss exists in every inch”

Laszlo Kraznahorkai: Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens

There is nothing that is more hopeless in this world than the so-called South-western regional bus station in Nanjing on 5 May 2002, shortly before seven o'clock in the drizzling rain and the unspeakably icy wind...


What has occurred is that in those places where in principle there still might be some trace of classical culture -- subordinated in the course of reconstruction to the inferior values of the tourist industry -- he, Stein, has come upon monuments almost everywhere essentially destroyed: instead of something real, he saw forgeries, instead of truth, he took part in deception, and it's as if he still could really speak of the reasons for his disillusionment.


At one time, according to the descriptions, the accounts, and the drawings, the temples here were magnificent, and although only a fragment of the buildings still stand today, and -- looking at them from far -- still in probably the best of conditions, as they come closer, and walk by all of them, and once again are confronted with the infinite damage done by the system of reconstruction in the new China, the monstrosity of crudely vulgar taste, the implacable lack of understanding, and the plethora of ignoble results, so radically at odds with the refined sensibilities the authentic Chinese spirit, more and more they fall into a kind of enraged despair, which then is transformed into the deepest repugnance [.....] (T)hey are not viewing Jiangtian, but rather they have been dropped into a safari park, where nothing is real, where everything has to be paid for, it turns out that here every building is new and fake, and every louhan, every so-called Buddha and every Bodhisattva is new and fake, and every wood join in every column and every centimetre of golden paint is brand-new and fake, so accordingly the whole thing is fraudulent.


And he is appalled by what is going on so often in these temples and monasteries. Everything reeks from money. High entrance fees are collected -- entrance fees ! at the gates, impossible things are for sale, fake rubbish, the meanest religious kitsch, the faithful are made to throw money into the collection box, and in the evening they spill it out, and count it up nicely and accurately, they count up the takings ... ! And these are not simply vendors, but monks ... ! Venerable abbot, László Stein involuntarily lowers his head, this is so sad.


In today's world, the connection between tradition and everyday life has been shattered.


Not only on 5 May 2002 is Nanjing hopeless, Nanjing is always hopeless, because there is nothing, really nothing that is more hopeless than Nanjing.

Cixin Liu: The Dark Forest

“If I destroy you, what business is it of yours?”

“Make time for civilization, for civilization won't make time.”

Staying alive is not enough to guarantee survival. Development is the best way to ensure survival.

“It’s a wonder to be alive. If you don’t understand that, how can you search for anything deeper?”

Time is the one thing that can’t be stopped. Like a sharp blade, it silently cuts through hard and soft, constantly advancing. Nothing is capable of jolting it even the slightest bit, but it changes everything.”
Earth’s suitability for human life was no coincidence, much less an effect of the anthropic principle, but rather was an outcome of the long-term interaction between the biosphere and the natural environment.

The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi Paradox.”

The past was like a handful of sand you thought you were squeezing tightly, but which had already run out through the cracks between your fingers. Memory was a river that had run dry long ago, leaving only scattered gravel in a lifeless riverbed. He had lived life always looking out for the next thing, and whenever he had gained, he had also lost, leaving him with little in the end.

“Don't say where we are! Once we know where we are, then the world becomes as narrow as a map. When we don't know, the world feels unlimited.”

Cixin Liu: The Three Body Problem

The most surprising aspect of the Earth-Trisolaris Movement was that so many people had abandoned all hope in human civilisation, hated and were willing to betray their own species, and even chrished as their highest ideal the elimination of the entire human race, including themselves and their children.  

“No, emptiness is not nothingness. Emptiness is a type of existence. You must use this existential emptiness to fill yourself.”

It was impossible to expect a moral awakening from humankind itself, just like it was impossible to expect humans to lift off the earth by pulling up on their own hair. To achieve moral awakening required a force outside the human race.

“To effectively contain a civilization’s development and disarm it across such a long span of time, there is only one way: kill its science.” 

“Maybe in the future this theory will be disproven. But two great cosmological discoveries of this century—Hubble’s law, and observation of the cosmic microwave background–show that the big bang theory is currently the most plausible explanation for the origin of the universe.”

“Pan-Species Communism. It’s an ideology I invented. Or maybe you can call it a faith. Its core belief is that all species on Earth are created equal.”

“Even if God were here, it wouldn’t do any good. The entire human race has reached the point where no one is listening to their prayers.”

The creation myths of the various peoples and religions of the world pale when compared to the glory of the big bang.

"It was not a good idea for the human race as a whole to make contact with extraterrestrials. The impact of such contact on human society would be divisive rather than uniting, and would exacerbate rather than mitigate the conflicts between different cultures. In summary, if contact were to occur, the internal divisions within Earth civilization would be magnified and likely lead to disaster."

But one always awoke from a dream, just like the sun—which, though it would rise again, brought no fresh hope.