The Man with the Compound Eyes Quotes

“So this was what a mountain was like, the same as a person: the more you know, the less you fear.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“In all honesty, I don’t envy you the possession of this power over memory, nor do I admire you. Because humans are usually completely unconcerned with the memories of other creatures. Human existence involves the willful destruction of the existential memories of other creatures and of your own memories as well. No life can survive without other lives, with the ecological memories of other living creatures have, memories of the environments in which the live. People don’t realize they need to rely on the memories of other organisms to survive. You think that flowers bloom in colorful profusion just to please your eyes. That a wild boar exists just to provide meat for your table. That a fish takes the bait just for you sake. That only you can mourn. That a stone falling into a gorge is of no significance. That a sambar deer, its head bent low to sip at a creek is not a revelation . . . When in fact the finest movement of any organism represents a change in an ecosystem.” The man with the compound eyes takes a deep sign and says: “But if you were any different you wouldn’t be human.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“Each piece of trash that floated here seems to have brought a story with it across the sea, because anything that's been thrown away has its own tale.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“..only if you go to places nobody's ever been can you see the colours nobody's ever seen.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“The time has come. I really feel I must relinquish my former identity. I have to try to make a change, or I will feel that I have lived my life in vain.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“Sometimes things haven't gone away, it's just that we can't see them.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“Going through a mountain to get from place to place as quickly as possible is one way of life, while going around is another.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“It's kind of elusive, whatever it is that's communicated through the skin. It's hard to describe, but you know it when you feel it. You can sometimes tell whether another person loves you or not, just by touch.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“Perhaps because I don't think he can completely understand me, I often feel like talking to him.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“A story can take children places they've never been before and tell them about things that happened to folks even older than their elders.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“You must love the land, my children, and ring it in with your love. For the land is the most precious thing on this island. It is like rain, like the heart of a woman.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“if you read them carefully you could identify the principles by virtue of which human beings understood the world as well as some hints about human nature.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“Con amore, difendete la terra con amore, perchè è una cosa preziosa, come la pioggia e il cuore delle donne".”
― Wu Ming-Yi, Montagne e nuvole negli occhi

“ll life must feel pain in the face of death. To live without ain is to live without dignity.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“Sometimes death is payback. At other times, it's just farewell, not owing anyone anything.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes

“Life is sometimes a trade-off.”
― Wu Ming-Yi, The Man with the Compound Eyes