Principles have a way of yielding to power.
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.
Nothing fruitful ever comes when plants are forced to flower in the wrong season.
to ask for anything of consequence from friends who cannot refuse is uncivilized.
Like most Chinese, I am basically a fatalist - too sophisticated for religion and too superstitious to deny the gods.