What harm is there in dreaming, if it eases pain? What good is reality, if it blots out hope? Can a man’s mind be washed without bleaching his soul?
BETTE LORDWhat harm is there in dreaming, if it eases pain? What good is reality, if it blots out hope? Can a man’s mind be washed without bleaching his soul?
BETTE LORDyou must not use wood to put out the fire.
BETTE LORDLike most Chinese, I am basically a fatalist – too sophisticated for religion and too superstitious to deny the gods.
BETTE LORDprophecies do not alter fate, only confirm it.
BETTE LORDA secret, like a chore, always seems to lead to another, one even more troublesome than the first.
BETTE LORDThe young see what they wish to see. The old see what they do not wish.
BETTE LORDto ask for anything of consequence from friends who cannot refuse is uncivilized.
BETTE LORDIn 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.
BETTE LORDIf mortals wait until the gods remake the world to their liking to be happy, they are already in hell.
BETTE LORDNothing fruitful ever comes when plants are forced to flower in the wrong season.
BETTE LORDPrinciples have a way of yielding to power.
BETTE LORD