you must not use wood to put out the fire.

If mortals wait until the gods remake the world to their liking to be happy, they are already in hell.

What harm is there in dreaming, if it eases pain? What good is reality, if it blots out hope? Can a man's mind be washed without bleaching his soul?

Like most Chinese, I am basically a fatalist - too sophisticated for religion and too superstitious to deny the gods.

The young see what they wish to see. The old see what they do not wish.

Nothing fruitful ever comes when plants are forced to flower in the wrong season.

A secret, like a chore, always seems to lead to another, one even more troublesome than the first.