Wu Cheng’en, courtesy name Ruzhong, was a Chinese novelist, poet, and politician during the Ming dynasty. He is considered by many to be the author of Journey to the West, one of the Classic Chinese Novels.

Wu Cheng’en Quotes

1. “Nothing in this world is difficult, but thinking makes it seem so. Where there is true will, there is always a way.”
— Wu Cheng’en

2. “What you must do,” said Monkey, “is lure the monster from its hiding place, but be certain it is a fight you can survive.”
— Wu Cheng’en

3. “Wherever you go,” said the Patriarch, “I’m convinced you’ll come to no good. So remember, when you get into trouble, I absolutely forbid you to say that you are my disciple.”
— Wu Cheng’en

4. “But “a single strand does not make a thread nor can one hand clap.”
— Wu Cheng’en

5. “There is no water like the water out of your own well.”
— Wu Cheng’en

6. “Why did you go towards the monster when he wanted to eat you up instead of running away? Now he’s swallowed you. Today you’re still a monk, but tomorrow you’ll be a turd.”
— Wu Cheng’en

7. “After Supper the Master dismissed all except Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha the Monk. He took them out with him and said, “Look at that wonderful moolight. It makes me long for the time when I can return home.”
— Wu Cheng’en

8. “With passions stilled and one’s nature firm, all destinies are in harmony; When the full moon of contemplation is reached you will be pure.”
— Wu Cheng’en

9. “Wife indeed!” laughed Monkey. “You haven’t got a wife now. There are some sorts of Taoists that are family men; but who ever heard of a Buddhist priest calmly talking about his ‘wife’?”
— Wu Cheng’en

10. “Each of them also had a white lacquered tablet hanging on his belt; on one was the inscription Shifty-and-Freaky, and on the other, Freaky-and-Shifty.”
— Wu Cheng’en

11. “Don’t go away! Have a taste of old Monkey’s rod!”
— Wu Cheng’en

12. “A bird in the hand is worth three in the Bush.”
— Wu Cheng’en

13. “Monkey now produced his staff and the two of them did their best to kill each other, like the affectionate in-laws they were.”
— Wu Cheng’en

14. “Never pour the Elixir of Life as if it were an ordinary liquid. He who entrusts the secret of the dark forces to unworthy ears is making his jaws do unnecessary work and talks his tongue dry to no purpose.”
— Wu Cheng’en

15. “After following it for nearly two miles he came across two she-monsters drawing water from a well. How did he know that they were monsters? Each of them had on her head an extremely unfashionable hair-style held up by bamboo slivers that stood one foot two or three inches high.”
— Wu Cheng’en