“Am I drunk?" he asked Crewcut. "Youre not drunk, Boss," Crewcut repli — Mo Yan

"Finally, she mused that human existence is as brief as the life of autumn grass, so what was there to fear from taking chances with your life?"

"Over decades that seem but a moment in time, lines of scarlet figures shuttled among the sorghum stalks to weave a vast human tapestry. They killed, they looted, and they defended their country in a valiant, stirring ballet that makes us unfilial descendants who now occupy the land pale by comparison."

"Are women really wonderful things? Maybe they are. Yes, women are wonderful things, but when all is said and done, they arent really “things"."

"I sometimes think that there is a link between the decline in humanity and the increase in prosperity and comfort. Property and comfort are what people seek, but the costs to character are often terrifying."

"Where theres life, death is inevitable. Dyings easy; its living thats hard. The harder it gets, the stronger the will to live. And the greater the fear of death, the greater the struggle to keep on living."

"A tidal wave of trucks and carts moved slowly, inexorably toward the now open gate, bumping and clanging into each other as they squeezed through. The investigator jumped out of the way, and as he stood there observing the passage of this hideous insect, with its countless twisting, shifting sections, he experienced a strange and powerful rage. The birth of that rage was followed by spasms down and around his anus, where irritated blood vessels began to leap painfully, and he knew he was in for a hemorrhoid attack. This time the investigation would go forward, hemorrhoids or no, just like the old days. That thought took the edge off his rage, lessened it considerably, in fact. Theres no avoiding the inevitable. Not mass confusion, not hemorrhoids. Only the sacred key to a riddle is eternal. But what was it this time?"