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

“To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.”

“You are right,” he had said. “Love is not the word. No one can love his neighbor. Say, rather, ‘Know thy neighbor as thyself.” That is, comprehend his hardships and understand his position, deal with his faults as gently as with your own. Do not judge him where you do not judge yourself. Madame, this is the meaning of the word love.”

“I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.”

“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.”

“there is one word that can be the guide for your life- it is the word reciprocity.”

“You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.”