you must not use wood to put out the fire.
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.
If mortals wait until the gods remake the world to their liking to be happy, they are already in hell.
Nothing fruitful ever comes when plants are forced to flower in the wrong season.
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?