to ask for anything of consequence from friends who cannot refuse is uncivilized.
If mortals wait until the gods remake the world to their liking to be happy, they are already in hell.
Like most Chinese, I am basically a fatalist - too sophisticated for religion and too superstitious to deny the gods.
Nothing fruitful ever comes when plants are forced to flower in the wrong season.
prophecies do not alter fate, only confirm it.
In yielding we are like the water, by nature placid, conforming to the hollow of the smallest hand; in time, shaping even the mountains to its will. Thus we keep duty and honor. We cherish clan and civilization. We are Chinese.