Pearl S. Buck

One faces the future with one's past.

It may be that religion is dead, and if it is, we had better know it and set ourselves to try to discover other sources of moral strength before it is too late.

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

Life without idealism is empty indeed. We just hope or starve to death.

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.

Can such stiff and formal moldings as words capture the spirit-essence of love?

Love cannot be forced, love cannot be coaxed and teased. It comes out of heaven, unasked and unsought.

If there is no other life, then this one has been enough to make it worth being born myself...a human being.