If childhood lacks play, youth lacks learning, adulthood lacks ambition, and middle age lacks entrepreneurship, life will simply fade with age. Life shines through movement, finds fulfillment in joy, gains depth through thought, and builds lasting friendships through sincerity. The Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods were eras of continuous conflict yet abundant talent and diverse schools of thought; the Tang Dynasty was an era of peace, prosperity, brilliant achievements, and constant innovation. Do not forget what you once possessed; cherish what you cannot attain; never give up on what is truly yours; and keep what is lost as a memory. Let some past events rest lightly in your heart, and let other forgotten things drift away with the wind. Mist drifts vaguely, dreams recur a thousand times, falling flowers blanket the knees, and the prosperity of the mortal world fades away; lonely whispers murmur to the emerald waves, and the fragrance in sleeves carries a lifetime of sorrow; a single tear falling on a rock clarifies the murky truth and pains the persistence of this life. A person's achievement is not measured by wealth, but by how many people you have treated well and how many will remember you. A merchant's ledger records income and expenses, where the difference is profit; but life's ledger records love and being loved, where the sum is true success.
