The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 5 Quotes

“When grief for fiction’s idle words More real than human life appears, Reflect that life itself’s a dream And do not mock the reader’s tears.”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes

“Better by far the destiny of plant or stone, bereft of knowledge and consciousness, but blessed at least with purity and peace of mind!”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes

“Perhaps my fellow humans whom the dream of life has ensnared may find in this tale an echo, may be summoned back by it to their true home; while free spirits of the high hills may find in the record of Brother Stone’s transformations, as in that older tale of the Migration of the Magic Mountain, a reflected light to quicken their own aspirations.”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes

“A bottle-gourd is ample for my needs,’ replied the Taoist. ‘Why build my hut on some famous mountain? As for this temple, only a crumbling tablet of stone remains to point to its long-forgotten origins.”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes

“I am no “jewel in the casket” biding “till one should come to buy”, no “jade-pin in the drawer hid, waiting its time to fly”.”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes

“Though he was a newcomer and had arrived only a short while before the crisis, he proved to be a most industrious and loyal servant, and was appalled by the way the other servants were taking advantage of their masters. He had insufficient status among the domestic staff to dare voice his feelings to the offenders, and could only eat his evening meal and take his indignation to bed.”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes

“Come here,’ said Grandmother Jia with a twinkle in her eye. ‘Come and have a look at something.’ Bao-yu walked over to the couch where she was lying, and Grandmother Jia handed him the jade thumb-ring. He took it in his hands and inspected it. It was about three inches in circumference, slightly elliptical in shape like an elongated melon, of a reddish hue. It was a very beautiful piece of workmanship. Bao-yu was most taken with it and enthused at some length.”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes

“caused her to be especially tender towards him; she was quite deliberately trying to ‘graft herself’ on to the ‘stem’ of his affections, drawing him closer to her and usurping Dai-yu’s place”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes

“When grief for fiction’s idle words
More real than human life appears,
Reflect that life itself’s a dream
And do not mock the reader’s tears.”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes

“In the courtyard before them grew a clump of bright green bamboo, while by the main doorway stood a row of dark pine-trees.”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes

“Better by far the destiny of plant or stone, bereft of knowledge and consciousness, but blessed at least with purity and peace of mind!’ These”
― Cao Xueqin, The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes