Offering others an extra measure of tolerance grants you an extra measure of flexibility.
While we cannot choose the length of our lives, we can choose how we live them. In conduct, maintain a touch of detachment; in the light breeze and gentle rain, there is rhythm and poetry. In action, keep a sense of composure; between bowing and standing, remain free and easy. Do not be contrived or hypocritical. Lacking the immersion of ten thousand volumes of poetry, we possess the simplicity of plain days; lacking the maturity gained from vicissitudes, we hold the serenity of being unmoved by gain or loss. Love is the heaviest flavor of life, while simplicity is its most profound hue.
Money is a good thing, but not the best. We must not sacrifice what is truly best for these lesser goods. What is the best? It is the simplicity of life and the richness of spirit, which are the true sources of happiness.
The best way to love someone is to respect them as an independent individual and cherish them as your closest kin.
What is falsehood? Falsehood is untruthfulness, or the deliberate performance of truth. “I must be true!”—but in insisting, you are already being false. What is affectation? Affectation is insincerity, or the deliberate display of sincerity. “I must be sincere!”—but in forcing it, you are already acting.
Today's scholars do not live with the same purity as their predecessors. Knowledge should be an accumulation, yet today it is often merely a means of making a living. People learn just the surface and are eager to exchange it for money. —Ye Zhaoyan
Fortune fosters temperance, while misfortune forges endurance. ―Francis Bacon
Be cautious when luck is good, and endure when fortune turns bad.
Do not fear saying "I'm sorry." A sincere apology often wins respect, and a magnanimous heart is the spring of a joyful life.
