Mo Yan quotes:

A writer should express criticism and indignation at the dark side of society and the ugliness of human nature, but we should not use one uniform expression.

My works are Chinese literature, which is part of world literature. They show the life of Chinese people as well as the country's unique culture and folk customs.

When literature exists, perhaps we do not notice how important it is, but when it does not exist, our lives become coarsened and brutal. For this reason, I am proud of my profession, but also aware of its importance.

I know what real courage is, and I understand true compassion.

Dear brother," Number Two replied, "I can eat shit, I just don't like the taste.

For a country boy, poor as I was, whose constant worry was to be able to have enough to eat, the Army guaranteed one's survival.

Possibly because I've lived so much of my life in difficult circumstances, I think I have a more profound understanding of life.

I think that China has many outstanding authors, and their great works should also be recognised by the world.

I write about my region, the countryside in which I grew up.

I have always been independent.

I am also well aware that literature only has a minimal influence on political disputes or economic crises in the world, but its significance to human beings is ancient.

I'll continue on the path I've been taking, feet on the ground, describing people's lives, describing people's emotions, writing from the standpoint of the ordinary people.

The sun, a red wheel, was sinking slowly in the west. Besides being spectacularly beautiful, the early-summer sunset was exceedingly soft and gentle: black mulberry leaves turned as red as roses; pristine white acacia petals shed an enshrouding pale-green aura. Mild evening breezes made both the mulberry leaves and the acacia petals dance and whirl, filling the woods with a soft rustle.

I heard so many stories from Gaomi's peasants that I had an irrepressible urge to write them down. Today, Gaomi's peasants know that they have become famous around the world through my writings, but I think they are a little puzzled by this.

One of the biggest problems in literature is the lack of subtlety.

A writer writes what he knows, in ways that are natural to him.

Loneliness and hunger were my fortunes of creation.

Some may want to shout on the street, but we should tolerate those who hide in their rooms and use literature to voice their opinions.

The act of giving voice to this spiritual suffering is, in my view, the sacred duty of the writer.

When someone forces me to do something I don't do it.

A writer should bury his thoughts deep and convey them through the characters in his novel.

The cliche that sea dry up and rocks rot away, but the heart never changes is nothing but a beautiful fantasy.

A writer should always bravely face life, risking death and mutilation in order to dethrone an emperor.

When I write, I try to represent the ordinary person in the pew, which means that, ironically, I'm qualified to write about prayer by being unqualified!

Finally, she mused that human existence is as brief as the life of autumn grass, so what was there to fear from taking chances with your life?

A sudden cloud formation of birds was swallowed up by the moon, and he was just as suddenly penned in by four walls-the demons' pen.

All kinds of mysterious phenomena exist in this world, but answers to most of them have come with advances in scientific knowledge. Love is the sole holdout-nothing can explain it. A Chinese writer by the name of Ah Cheng wrote that love is just a chemical reaction, an unconventional point of view that seemed quite fresh at the time. But if love can be controlled and initiated by means of chemistry, then novelists would be out of a job. So while he may have had his finger on the truth, I'll remain a member of the loyal opposition.

I think writers write for their consciences, they write for their own true audiences, for their souls.

No person writes to win awards.

People who are strangers to liquor are incapable of talking about literature.

Where there's life, death is inevitable. Dying's easy; it's living that's hard. The harder it gets, the stronger the will to live. And the greater the fear of death, the greater the struggle to keep on living.