Gao Xingjian

Various political parties, even if they're in direct opposition with one another, still say they are the spokesperson for the people. The writer must speak his own words and not get mixed up with politics.

Freedom is the basic prerequisite for writing.

As a male writer, women are always what men pursue, and their world is always a mystery. So I always tried to present as many views as possible on women's worlds.

When I lived in China, my works were already being banned, and I couldn't publish. In those days, when I was in China, I was writing for myself, so that's the process of writing for myself that was the most important thing.

Love is so holy, so confusing. It makes a man anxious, tormented. Love, how can I define it?

If you're not perfectly conscious of yourself, that self can be tyrannical; in relationship to others, anyone can become a tyrant. That's why no one can be a Superman. You have to go beyond yourself with a 'third eye' - self-awareness - because the one thing you cannot flee is yourself.

When I completed writing 'Soul Mountain,' I more or less closed the accounts with China for myself. I was 50 years old when I left, so China is already within me.

A writer has to fully defend his rights and his own worth.

Experience has taught me that any kind of political grouping is oppressive. It's the blind mass that crushes the individual.

If you want to do anything, do it now, without compromise or concession, because you have only one life.

Literature hasn't come up with any new themes. The literature of all different times - it's still dealing with how one resolves issues of existence.

When you use words, you're able to keep your mind alive. Writing is my way of reaffirming my own existence.