Some mistakes, once made, offer no second chance for correction. Just as a car speeding downhill cannot be stopped from its inevitable descent unless controlled beforehand, so too, once you inflict irreparable loss on others, no remedy exists unless you exercised self-restraint in time.
Why does a general who once commanded a million-strong army and faced death without fear become so terrified by a small porcelain cup? On the surface, the general owns and controls the cup, but in reality, his spirit has been enslaved by it.
We will inevitably encounter unhappy events, and feeling displeased is only natural. However, after the fact, we can consider whether there is any reason for gratitude amidst our discontent. If there is, that becomes our reason for happiness.
Life is a mystery, and we never know exactly what the next step holds. Therefore, let us be excellent actors, fully immersed in the performance: laugh heartily when we should, cry passionately when we should, love with full force when we should, and hate thoroughly when we should. Use all our time, energy, sincerity, laughter, and tears to act out this drama of life, striving to make our role flawless. Then, when the curtain falls, there will surely be people shedding tears to give us the warmest applause.
Three Measures of Life: Human life can be measured by three "quantities," and everyone experiences the accumulation and gradual change of these three. The first is courage, as the saying goes, "a calf is not afraid of the tiger," referring to the fearlessness of youth. The second is strength, as middle age is the period of peak physical power. The third is tolerance (or broad-mindedness), which is proportional to knowledge. Knowledge is like a circle; the more you learn, the larger the circle becomes, the more things you wish to learn, and the greater your capacity for tolerance.