To be suspicious is not a fault. To be suspicious all the time without coming to a conclusion is the defect.
Lu XunRead
Lies written in ink cannot disguise facts written in blood.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the permanence of truth over deceit. Written lies cannot change the reality of harsh truths.
Lu Xun's quote suggests that no matter how beautifully or eloquently lies may be presented, they cannot alter the underlying truths that exist. The imagery of 'ink' represents falsehoods that may seem convincing, while 'blood' symbolizes the harsh, undeniable realities of life. This highlights the importance of recognizing and confronting truth, regardless of the comfort that lies might provide.
Themes
TruthLiesFactsDeceitHonesty
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on integrity, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of honesty.
More from Lu Xun
All quotes βI felt that if a man's proposals met with approval, it should encourage him; if they met with opposition, it should make him fight back; but the real tragedy for him was to lift up his voice among the living and meet with no response neither approval nor opposition just as if he were left helpless in a boundless desert.
Lu XunRead
I thought: hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. It is just like roads across the earth. For actually the earth had no roads to begin with, but when many men pass one way, a road is made.
Lu XunRead
Similar quotes
When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
An en is a karmic bond lasting a lifetime. Nowadays many people seem to believe their lives are entirely a matter of choice; but in my day we viewed ourselves as pieces of clay that forever show the fingerprints of everyone who has touched them.
Arthur GoldenRead
We think that the world is limited and explained by its past. We tend to think that what happened in the past determines what is going to happen next, and we do not see that it is exactly the other way around! What is always the source of the world is the present; the past doesn't explain a thing. The past trails behind the present like the wake of a ship and eventually disappears.
Alan WattsRead
Law in general is human reason, inasmuch as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth: the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied.
Baron De MontesquieuRead
And when the Patrician was unhappy, he became very democratic. He found intricate and painful ways of spreading that unhappiness as far as possible.
Terry PratchettRead
Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed.
Herman MelvilleRead