Quotes by Pearl S. Buck

About Pearl S. Buck:

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was an American writer and novelist. As the daughter of missionaries, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in China. Her novel The Good Earth was the best-selling fiction book in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces". She was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Fate is unalterable only in the sense that given a cause, a certain result must follow, but no cause is inevitable in itself, and man can shape his world if he does not resign himself to ignorance.

Pearl S. Buck

A man is educated and turned out to work. But a woman is educated — and turned out to grass.

Pearl S. Buck

Yes, she now believed that when her body died, her soul would go on. Gods she did not worship, and faith she had none, but love she had and forever. Love alone had awakened her sleeping soul and had made it deathless. She knew she was immortal.

Pearl S. Buck

Race prejudice is not only a shadow over the colored — it is a shadow over all of us, and the shadow is darkest over those who feel it least and allow its evil effects to go on.

Pearl S. Buck

Hunger makes a thief of any man.

Pearl S. Buck

You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.

Pearl S. Buck

To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.

Pearl S. Buck

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation.

Pearl S. Buck

What is a neglected child? He is a child not planned for, not wanted. Neglect begins, therefore, before he is born.

Pearl S. Buck

If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.

Pearl S. Buck

All things are possible until they are proved impossible - and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.

Pearl S. Buck

We send missionaries to China so the Chinese can get to heaven, but we won't let them into our country.

Pearl S. Buck

Nothing and no one can destroy the Chinese people. They are relentless survivors.

Pearl S. Buck

Praise out of season, or tactlessly bestowed, can freeze the heart as much as blame.

Pearl S. Buck

Chinese are wise in comprehending without many words what is inevitable and inescapable and therefore only to be borne.

Pearl S. Buck

Race prejudice is not only a shadow over the colored it is a shadow over all of us, and the shadow is darkest over those who feel it least and allow its evil effects to go on.

Pearl S. Buck

Many people lose the small joys in the hope for the big happiness.

Pearl S. Buck

The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, ...

Pearl S. Buck

An intelligent, energetic, educated woman cannot be kept in four walls — even satin-lined, diamond-studded walls — without discovering sooner or later that they are still a prison cell." ( , Harper's Magazine, August 1938)

Pearl S. Buck

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in human beings.

Pearl S. Buck

It is better to be first with an ugly woman than the hundreth with a beauty.

Pearl S. Buck

Author Bio

  • NamePearl S. Buck
  • DescriptionAmerican writer
  • AliasesPearl Buck; Pearl Sydenstricker Buck
  • BornJune 26, 1892
  • DiedMarch 6, 1973
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist; Autobiographer; Human Rights Activist
  • AwardsNobel Prize In Literature; National Women's Hall Of Fame