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

you must not use wood to put out the fire.
BETTE LORD

Fire Use Woods
The young see what they wish to see. The old see what they do not wish.
BETTE LORD

Age Wish Youth
Nothing fruitful ever comes when plants are forced to flower in the wrong season.
BETTE LORD

Flower Plant Time
prophecies do not alter fate, only confirm it.
BETTE LORD

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

Hell Waiting World
In 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 LORD

Civilization Hands Water
Principles have a way of yielding to power.
BETTE LORD

Power Principles Way Yielding
A secret, like a chore, always seems to lead to another, one even more troublesome than the first.
BETTE LORD

Firsts Secret
to ask for anything of consequence from friends who cannot refuse is uncivilized.
BETTE LORD

Favors Refuse Uncivilized
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 LORD

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

Chinese Religion Sophisticated

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