“All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.”

“The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible -- and achieve it, generation after generation.”

“To understand what happens now one must find the cause, which may be very long ago in its beginning, but is surely there, and therefore a knowledge of history as detailed as possible is essential if we are to comprehend the present and be prepared for the future.”

“And listening to all the things they would do if they had these things, Wang Lung heard only of how much they would eat and sleep, and of what dainties they would eat that they had never tasted,and how they would gamble in this great tea shop and in that, and what pretty women they would buy for their lust, and above all, how none would ever work again, even as they rich man behind the wall never worked.”

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

“To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.”

“Is our Heaven your God, and is your God our Heaven?' she inquired.'They are one and the same,' he replied...'There is only one true God. He has many names.''Then anywhere upon the round earth, by whatever seas, those who believe in any God believe in the One?' she asked.'And so are brothers,' he said, agreeing.'And if I do not believe in any?' she inquired willfully.'God is patient,' he said. 'God waits. Is there not eternity?”