A century of life is essentially a symphony that we must spend a lifetime composing. It has melodies that rise and fall, rhythms that are slow and fast, dense and sparse, sometimes elegant and flowing, sometimes tense and intense. It is precisely this ups-and-downs that reveals the breadth and grandeur of life. Even if our lives are as plain and flat as water, we can still compose them into a beautiful "Moonlight Sonata," soft, warm, and melodious.
Most errors and losses stem from a lack of effort, persistence, and retention, followed by the self-deception of blaming fate. Many things require continuous persistence in the midst of effort, in loneliness, in ridicule, in exhaustion, in confusion, and in pain. The result of persistence may still be nothing gained, but the result of not persisting is definitely nothing gained. There is no secret to success. If there were, there would only be two: first, persist until the end and never give up; second, when you want to give up, go back and follow the first rule again.
In any undertaking, what we need is not the praise and applause of others, but our own self-applause, which is the indispensable confidence. Not every disaster is a misfortune; the adversity that tests a person may be a blessing. Not every comfort is a blessing; the favorable conditions that shelter a person may be a misfortune.
If you wish to soar through the sky like an eagle, you must fly with a flock of eagles, not keep company with swallows; if you wish to gallop across the earth like a wild wolf, you must run with a pack of wolves, not travel with deer and sheep. As the saying goes, "The zebra finch and the sparrow are different." In life, you may not have a renowned name, you may not possess vast wealth, you may not be a great figure or official, but as long as you possess a pure and spotless heart, clean and unblemished, your soul can face heaven directly.
