you must not use wood to put out the fire.
to ask for anything of consequence from friends who cannot refuse is uncivilized.
prophecies do not alter fate, only confirm it.
Like most Chinese, I am basically a fatalist - too sophisticated for religion and too superstitious to deny the gods.
Principles have a way of yielding to power.
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.