Quotes from The Debt of Tears

Cao Xueqin ·  400 pages

Rating: (423 votes)


“The mighty sturgeon has his pool; The stork upon the dam makes his habitation. Fish in scaly armour, Birds in serried plumes, find protection. In my distress I question that inscrutable expanse: O bowels of earth! O boundless sky! Will ye not hearken to my cry? Above, the twinkling Milky Way; The air cold, Slanting moonlight, The water-clock sunk past midnight. My restless heart grieves still;”
― Cao Xueqin, quote from The Debt of Tears


“No remedy but love Can make the lovesick well; Only the hand that tied the knot Can loose the tiger’s bell.”
― Cao Xueqin, quote from The Debt of Tears


“There was a peal of laughter from the girls. Then, before anyone could say a word, the line was seen to move a fraction. A bite at last! The sage yanked in for all he was worth. The rod crashed into a protruding rock and broke clean in two.”
― Cao Xueqin, quote from The Debt of Tears


“There was a peal of laughter from the girls. Then, before anyone could say a word, the line was seen to move a fraction. A bite at last! The sage yanked in for all he was worth. The rod crashed into a protruding rock and broke clean in two. The”
― Cao Xueqin, quote from The Debt of Tears


“She walked indoors, and staring once more at her orchids, thought to herself: ‘Flowers have their spring-time, a time for fresh blossoms and young leaves. I am young, but frail as the willow that dreads the first breath of autumn… If all turns out for the best, I may grow stronger yet. But if not, my fate will be like that of the fallen petals at spring’s end, driven by the rain and tossed in the wind…”
― Cao Xueqin, quote from The Debt of Tears



About the author

Cao Xueqin
Born place: Nanjing, China
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“A newspaper that wishes to make its fortune should never waste its columns and weary its readers by praising anything.”
― Anthony Trollope, quote from The Way We Live Now


“Government regulations required that an elevator be installed for the use of the disabled. Mother would not allow an elevator. The city offered to pay for the elevator. Its offer was refused. After all the negotiations and plans, the project for the poor was abandoned because an elevator for the handicapped was unacceptable.”
― Christopher Hitchens, quote from The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice


“There he is, tall, tanned, Italian, sophisticated. So what do you do?"

I said, "Er, leap on him and snog him within an inch of his life? Taking care not to strangle myself on his false beard, or disturb his banana.”
― Louise Rennison, quote from Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers


“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”
― Blaise Pascal, quote from Pensées


“Hecuba had the mistaken notion, just like my poor mama, that all a girl had to do was to get married and all her problems were solved overnight.”
― Costas Taktsis, quote from The Third Wedding


Interesting books

Fighting for Flight
(24.8K)
Fighting for Flight
by J.B. Salsbury
Forever Us
(11.8K)
Forever Us
by Sandi Lynn
Mister God, This is Anna
(4.5K)
Mister God, This is...
by Fynn
The Shadow Thieves
(5.7K)
The Shadow Thieves
by Anne Ursu
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
(110.6K)
Born a Crime: Storie...
by Trevor Noah
Old School
(9.7K)
Old School
by Tobias Wolff

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.