Pearl S. Buck

Fear alone makes man weak. If you are afraid, your hands tremble, your feet falter, and your brain cannot tell hands and feet what to do.

We must learn to live with danger, " he now said to Kino. "Do you mean the ocean and the volcano cannot hurt us if we are not afraid?" Kino asked. "No," his father replied. "I did not say that. Ocean is there and volcano is there. It is true that on any day ocean may rise into storm and volcano may burst into flame. We must accept this fact, but without fear. We must say, 'Someday I shall die, and does it matter whether it is by ocean or volcano, or whether I grow old and weak?' " "I don't want to think about such things," Kino said. "it is right for you not to think about them," his father said. "Then do not be afraid. When you are afraid, you are thinking about them all the time. Enjoy life and don not fear death - that is the way of a good Japanese.

Now, five years is nothing in a man's life except when he is very young and very old...- Wang Lung

None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.

Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that is where I renew my springs that never dry up.

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

Love alone could waken love.

Let woman out of the home, let man into it, should be the aim of education. The home needs man, and the world outside needs woman.

Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together.

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.

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

In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.

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.

We should so provide for old age that it may have no urgent wants of this world to absorb it from meditation on the next. It is awful to see the lean hands of dotage making a coffer of the grave.

You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea.

The bitterest creature under heaven is the wife who discovers that her husband's bravery is only bravado, that his strength is only a uniform, that his power is but a gun in the hands of a fool.

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

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.