“you must not use wood to put out the fire.”

prophecies do not alter fate, only confirm it.

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?

to ask for anything of consequence from friends who cannot refuse is uncivilized.

Principles have a way of yielding to power.

The young see what they wish to see. The old see what they do not wish.

Like most Chinese, I am basically a fatalist – too sophisticated for religion and too superstitious to deny the gods.

If mortals wait until the gods remake the world to their liking to be happy, they are already in hell.

I only used a cell phone for the first time after I was released. I had difficulty coping with it because it seemed so small and insubstantial.

Blank cartridges should never be used against a mob, nor should a volley be fired over the heads of the mob even if there is little danger of hurting persons in the rear. Such things will be regarded as an admission of weakness, or an attempt to bluff, and may do more harm than good.

The problem is that ego can convert anything to its own use, even spirituality.

I used to reenact ‘Titanic’ all the time.

The words that we use I think are symbolic of the values that we hold.

If you’re going to have sex, use a condom.

When people are used to you doing something, they want you to stay in that lane.

The student who uses home made apparatus, which is always going wrong, often learns more than one who has the use of carefully adjusted instruments, to which he is apt to trust and which he dares not take to pieces.