Yang Wen-li quotes from Legend of the Galactic Heroes (newest)

Yang Wen-li: Someone who cannot hate something cannot love something, either.

Yang Wen-li: In the end, conspiracies or terrorism cannot reverse the flow of history. But they can make it stagnant.

Yang Wen-li: Everybody has to display a certain loyalty towards their paycheck. I was the same way. It isn't just a piece of paper, it's a chain that binds people.

Yang Wen-li: Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it clarifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands.

Yang Wen-li: To me, political power is like sewage. You can't do without it, but it's not something you want to approach.

Yang Wen-li: Humans were drinking alcohol five thousand years ago, and they're still drinking it now. And five thousand years from now, they'll be drinking alcohol. Although it's unlikely that there'll be a human race in five thousand years.

Yang Wen-li: Alcohol is humanity's friend. Can I abandon a friend?

Yang Wen-li: Just as people sometimes die, nations aren't eternally indestructible things, either.

Yang Wen-li: Anything that hasn't existed since the genesis of the universe needn't survive until the end.

Yang Wen-li: People tend to make the common mistake of believing that a situation will last forever.

Yang Wen-li: For as long as human history goes on, the past will continue to accumulate. History isn't just records of the past. It's also proof that civilization has continued to advance to the present. Our present civilization is the result of our past.

Yang Wen-li: For those who have come to power, wealth and glory not by their own strength and effort, but simply through inheritance, what right do they have to complain? The very existence of such blood-lineage dynasties is disgusting. Power is the property of one generation. It shouldn't be transferred, it should be seized.

Yang Wen-li: In reality, it's dictatorship rather than democracy that drastically advances government reforms. But I think humanity ought to avoid being united by a dictatorship. While it's true Duke Lohengramm might have that talent, what about his descendants? His heir? Rulers aren't necessarily wise through generations. He's like a miracle which could happen only once every few centuries. I don't think the entire human race should be ruled by a system where everything depends on one person's character.

Yang Wen-li: Dictatorship itself isn't absolutely evil, it's just another form of government. The point is how you can run it for the benefit of society.

Yang Wen-li: Has there been some change in the government again? I'd be overjoyed if they told me the Chairman was dead.

Yang Wen-li: If the defence of our homeland and self-sacrifice are as necessary as you say, before you tell other people do "do this and that", how about if you actually do it yourselves?

Enrique Oliveira: Peace and freedom, lacking a sense of tension, cause people to degenerate. It's war that gives people a sense of vitality. War is what makes civilizations advance, and psychologically elevates people! Prolonged periods of peace and freedom will only decrease the vitality in an already decadent age. Doesn't your precious history proves that?
Yang Wen-li: What a wonderful observation. If only there was no one who had lost their life or family to war then maybe I'd even come to believe it. For people who prefer to take advantage of war and try to establish their on profit on other peoples' sacrifices, it's an unusually fascinating idea. And for people who show false patriotism to deceive other people as well.

Negroponte: You are a pretty radical anarchist.
Yang Wen-li: No, but you could say I'm a vegetarian. Although as soon as I look at a delicious meat dish, I break my commandments at once.

Yang Wen-li: People may need societies, but they don't necessarily need nations.

Yang Wen-li: The nation that neglects social inequality, mischievously increases military budgets, and then uses its power internally to suppress the citizens on the pretext of invasion by an external enemy is on the road to extinction.

Yang Wen-li: A military is a tool. And a bad tool at that. Remembering that, try to be as harmless a tool as possible.

Yang Wen-li: By causing a big storm and hiding during the storm, he's never been damaged himself. Before you know it, he'll be exercising even more authority. The thought leaves me panic stricken. And then, I had a nasty thought. What good is democracy if it gives power to a man like that?

Yang Wen-li: Strange, isn't it? Liking an enemy commander better than our own politicians.

Yang Wen-li: I only studied a little history. I've learned that there are two currents of thought in human society. The opinion that there are things worth more than human life and the opinion that there is nothing preferable to life. When people begin to fight, it's on the pretext of the former type of people and it justifies the latter when they stop.

Yang Wen-li: The Empire, with a few nobles ruling the masses, is bad government. The Alliance, with a government chosen by the people, is badly governed. Which one do you think is wrong?

Yang Wen-li: There has never been 'permanent peace' in human history. But, there have been plenty of ages with decades of peace. In short, my hope is, haughtily enough, for a few decades of peace in the future.

Yang Wen-li: The freedom to not get involved is perhaps the most valued freedom we have in this country.

Yang Wen-li: Kids grow by exploiting adults.