Quotes from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))

Luo Guanzhong ·  582 pages

Rating: (1.8K votes)


“The world under heaven, after a long period of division, tends to unite; after a long period of union, tends to divide. This has been so since antiquity. ”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))


“On and on the Great River rolls, racing east.
Of proud and gallant heros its white-tops leave no trace,
As right and wrong, pride and fall at once unreal
Yet ever the green hill stay
To blaze in the west-waning day...”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))


“It is a general truism of this world that anything long divided will surely unite, and anything long united will surely divide.”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))


“The empire long united must divide, long divided must unite; this is how it has always been.”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))


“To kill deliberately is very wrong,” said Chen Gong. “I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me,” was Cao Cao’s reply. Chen Gong could say nothing.”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))



“Your rival has ten weak points, whereas you have ten strong ones. Although his army is large, it is not irresistible.
“Yuan Shao is too caught up in ceremony and show while you, on the other hand, are more practical. He is often antagonistic and tends to force things, whereas you are more conciliatory and try to guide things to their proper courses, giving you the advantage of popular support. His extravagance hinders his administrative ability while your better efficiency is a great contribution to the government, granting you the edge of a well-structured and stable administration. On the outside he is very kind and giving but on the inside he is grudging and suspicious. You are just the opposite, appearing very exacting but actually very understanding of your followers’ strengths and weaknesses. This grants you the benefit of tolerance. He lacks commitment where you are unfaltering in your decisions, promptly acting on your plans with full faith that they will succeed. This shows an advantage in strategy and decisiveness. He believes a man is only as good as his reputation, which contrasts with you, who looks beyond this to see what kind of person they really are. This demonstrates that you are a better judge of moral character. He only pays attention to those followers close to him, while your vision is all-encompassing. This shows your superior supervision. He is easily misled by poor advice, whereas you maintain sound judgment even if beset by evil council. This is a sign of your independence of thought. He does not always know what is right and wrong but you have an unwavering sense of justice. This shows how you excel in discipline. He has a massive army, but the men are poorly trained and not ready for war. Your army, though much smaller, is far superior and well provisioned, giving you the edge in planning and logistics, allowing you to execute effectively. With your ten superiorities you will have no difficulty in subduing Yuan Shao.”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))


“Unity succeeds division and division follows unity. One is bound to be replaced by the other after a long span of time. This is the way with things in the world.”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))


“Хятадын үе үеийн хаад доод тал нь 800, дээд тал нь 60'000 татвар эм, хатадтай байсан ба тэдгээр нь 72 зэрэгт хуваагддаг байжээ.”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))


“That must be Dong Zhuo!” cried Zhang Fei. “What’s the use of pursuing Lu Bu? Better seize the chief villain and so eradicate the evil by plucking up its roots.”
― Luo Guanzhong, quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1: (with footnotes and maps) (Romance of the Three Kingdoms (with footnotes and maps))


About the author

Luo Guanzhong
Born place: Taiyuan, China
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“He talked about the ocean between people. And how the whole point of everything is to find a shore worth swimming to.”
― Becky Albertalli, quote from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda


“Sometimes my fancy gets to floating inside me, threatening to carry me away like a leaf on a wind. Better to be a stone.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Book of a Thousand Days


“It was like she was cheated. Only nobody had cheated her. So there was nobody to take it out on. However, just the same she had that feeling. Cheated.”
― Carson McCullers, quote from The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter


“But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is the distinction of men into kings and subjects. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and band, the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth inquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.”
― Thomas Paine, quote from Common Sense


“Are these things really better than the things I already have? Or am I just trained to be dissatisfied with what I have now?”
― Chuck Palahniuk, quote from Lullaby


Interesting books

The House of the Spirits
(148.9K)
The House of the Spi...
by Isabel Allende
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
(554.2K)
The Girl Who Kicked...
by Stieg Larsson
Delirium
(371.1K)
Delirium
by Lauren Oliver
I Know This Much Is True
(266.3K)
I Know This Much Is...
by Wally Lamb
Throne of Glass
(388K)
Throne of Glass
by Sarah J. Maas
The Green Mile
(203.2K)
The Green Mile
by Stephen King

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.