Passion holds up the bottom of the universe
and genius paints up its roof.
Better be insulted by common people than be
despised by gentlemen, better be flunked by an official examiner than be
unknown to a famous scholar.
My regrets or things that exasperate me are
ten, that books bags are easily eaten by moths, that summer nights are spoiled
by mosquitoes, that a moon terrace easily leaks, that the leaves of
chrysanthemums often wither, that pine trees are full of big ants, that bamboo
leaves fall in great quantities upon the ground, that the cassia and lotus
flowers easily wither, that the pilo plants often conceals snakes, that flowers
on a trellis have thorns and, that porcupines are often poisonous to eat.
To be born in times of peace in a district
will hills and lakes when the magistrate is just and upright and to live in a
family of comfortable means, marry an undeserving wife and have intelligent
sons, this is what I call a perfect life.
A monk needs to abstain from wine, abstain
from vulgarity, a red petticoat need not understand literature, she need only
understand what is artistically interesting.
Wine can take the place of tea but tea
cannot take the place of wine, poems can take place of prose but prose cannot
take the place of poems. Moon can take
place of lamps but lamps cannot take place of moon, the pen can take place of
the mouth, but the mouth cannot take place of the pen, a maid servant can take
the place of a man servant but a man servant cannot take the place of a maid.
A little injustice in the breast can be
drowned by wine, but a great injustice in the world can be drowned only by the
sword.
It is easy to stand a pain but difficult to
stand an itch, it is easy to bear the bitter taste, but difficult to bear the
sour taste.
The stork gives a man the romantic manner,
the horse gives a man the heroic manner, the orchid gives a man the recluse’s
manner and the pine gives a man the romantic manner, and the pine gives a man
the grand manner of the ancients.
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