to ask for anything of consequence from friends who cannot refuse is uncivilized.
Principles have a way of yielding to power.
A secret, like a chore, always seems to lead to another, one even more troublesome than the first.
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?
you must not use wood to put out the fire.
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.