"Li Ao's Selected Writings" Reading Record

Highlights#

I like warriors, even if they are covered in wounds, even if they cannot escape death. The "Chu Ci" says: "Your soul becomes a ghostly hero," even if they die, they will become ghostly heroes. (From "Thoughts on Fighting")
A mature formula should be what Einstein said: A (success) = X (work) + Y (play) + Z (speak less).
Living this transformative life of "great aspirations differing from the past" can be divided into four stages: the first step is to make grand ambitions, the second step is to force oneself to act, the third step is to develop habits, and the fourth step is to be full of interest.
"A heart of iron and stone" is the most successful manifestation of willpower; it is more important, effective, and decisive than any method of being human. Rationality is not enough, emotions are bad, and impulsiveness is nonsense; only a "heart of iron and stone" is the most powerful and magnificent life.
Robert C. Ogden said: "The most important reason for young people's lack of progress is their habit of talking too much. A person who speaks little, thinks more, and is relatively deep often succeeds."
Face good and face evil.
Resist the common trends.
Living in a vile society without confronting its ugly reality, encountering despicable hypocrites without recognizing their vile actions.
Get off your horse and drink your wine, asking where you are going? You say you are dissatisfied, returning to rest at the foot of the southern mountain. Just go and don't ask again; the white clouds are endless.
Have brave and grand aspirations and vision; do not let the small temptations of the present hinder the pursuit of magnificent ideals. Keep striving ("I see its progress, but have not seen its stop"); there is nothing in the world that comes without effort; without effort, even if there is gain, it will not last.
Today's silent life is done very well; only doing things, not talking; only being lonely, not socializing.
For example, if I waste ten minutes a day chatting, over ten years, I would waste more than six hundred hours! If I waste an hour a day goofing off, over ten years, I would waste more than five months! Six hundred hours of reading could yield great achievements! Six hundred hours (twenty-five days) of focused study could make me proficient in a general botany book! But this starts from the ten minutes that everyone does not value; five months of reading could yield great achievements! Five months of focused study could make me proficient in a history of the Ming Dynasty! But this starts from the one hour that everyone can easily spare! When I realize that I can view the importance of time with this perspective and foresight, I cannot help but feel an indescribable fear and tension. I clearly realize that I absolutely cannot waste my ten minutes or hour easily anymore! Externally, I am determined not to be disturbed by common people and trivial matters; internally, I must spend every ten minutes and hour according to a carefully formulated plan, in accordance with a sense of value!
I know very clearly how to walk this path; the former is a big-picture perspective; the latter is a small-scale approach. Regarding the former, what I need most is an exceptionally broad mind, vision, ambition, and aspirations; regarding the latter, what I need most is exceptionally planned diligence, the ability to endure a monotonous life, the patience not to avoid difficulties, and the self-discipline to check myself in a timely manner.
My negativity is: not being a local sycophant; China has one less local sycophant; my "positivity" is: to defeat a few "hypocrites" and declare a few "hypocrites" as local sycophants.
First-class people cherish time.
Although I am a fighter, I am very weary of interpersonal relationships. I believe that the dominance of modern technology has made people increasingly weak, diminishing individuals' ability to resist the government and environment, making individuals unreliable and unlovable. "The more people I know, the more I like dogs."
I no longer naively hope that others will change their perspective on me.
I am naturally a cheerful person, and this cheerful nature makes it difficult for me to approach life, writing, and dealing with people with a serious demeanor.
I believe that all relationships between men and women are beautiful; love should be like this, marriage should be like this, and divorce should be even more so.
For ordinary people, I have long been a lonely person. I once spent a month without leaving my home, and to the few friends who came to see me, I appeared passive and indifferent. I have a beloved woman; we meet every evening, have dinner together, and I send her home late at night (a ten-minute round trip). The rest of my time is spent alone, reading, writing, listening to records, watching TV, tidying up the room, exercising a bit, and walking around; this is my daily life. I have been living this way for fourteen months.
First, calm down for ten minutes. No matter what difficult problem you need to solve, the first step is to calm down and reflect. Calm reflection should be mandatory; it is a call from oneself to oneself. In this regard, of course, believers in God have a great advantage. At this step, they can call upon their God (pray) or call upon God's agent (confess to a priest), but for those of us who do not believe in these, we suffer a bit more, so we can only turn inward and tell ourselves to calm down for ten minutes and see what can be done. Problems must be solved; self-pity is not a solution; we should still seek survival amidst suffering. If we can gain a little more peace or happiness through our limited efforts, wouldn’t that be better? Things are not that bad; from the perspective that it could be worse, at least there are a few satisfactory aspects; effort is still worthwhile. A man should not easily lose heart; as long as there is breath, he should "finish this game of billiards," be a bit bold, uplift himself, and think of a way.
Second, do unrelated things. The best way to solve difficult problems is to let time solve them naturally—"appeal to time." In fact, life's problems are fundamentally time problems; time can naturally solve everything. Using time to solve difficult problems has a flavor of "non-action"; in fact, "non-action" (doing nothing, purely letting things develop naturally, purely letting things develop in mystery) is also an effective method. At the very least, it can avoid "confusing people's minds."
Third, endure hardship in spirit. This is encouragement, motivation, and inspiration in terms of willpower.
Fourth, work hard. Work, labor, exercise, a lot of work, a lot of labor, and exercise are all effective remedies for transferring emotions and getting stuck in a rut (positively can improve health, negatively can transfer physiological fatigue). Moreover, these activities can also bring positive benefits. "Work is the alchemist that turns gloom into joy"; "A busy bee has no time for sorrow"—these are all results of wisdom and should not be ignored. (From "On the 'Law of Happiness'")
Getting angry at common people but not at oneself is the way of a wise person playing with the world.
For twenty years, I have judged myself and others based on the concrete results of their actions; beyond that, all grievances, all reasons, all waiting, all humility, all boasting, and all plans are to be despised because they have not produced concrete results and cannot be counted! They vow to do this or that, but such vows, without concrete results for verification, are all false. (From "The Original Vow of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva")
Perhaps the biggest flaw of Chinese people is their inability to distinguish between reason and emotion; often, they sacrifice reason for emotion, and often offend people for the sake of reason. This leads to a difficulty in distinguishing right from wrong, but in fact, these are fundamentally two different matters. (From "What Does 'Reason Comes with No Emotion' Mean?")
Cherish your own time.
I believe that skilled individuals with good training and observational abilities can gain much "close enough" experience from many indirect media, gaining much "though not exact, not far off" experience. It is said that humanity's great progress lies in its ability to accumulate experience and indirectly absorb others' experiences; this kind of learning is the true knack; otherwise, relying solely on direct experiences makes one too foolish and too tired.
Understanding life is not an easy task; distinguishing the real parts of life from the illusory parts is the difficult focus.
It can be seen that those who suffer have their own way of living; this way of living, if not experienced firsthand, cannot appreciate its hardships; but for great people, this hardship is merely a form of "enduring hardship in spirit" and a transition. With a shift in thought, all hardships can be faced calmly, treated as if nothing happened, regarded as a matter of course, and thus become insignificant.
Monthly life is largely the same, with very few small differences. Great similarities with minor differences.
If there is such a thing, it is the first to betray people in darkness; the soul is merely a shadow of a shadow.
Although the sun shines brightly, it is only close to you; the world is cold, and the sun becomes a friend.
Watching darkness approach and then watching darkness leave.
Under the shadow of dark forces, the net of law is not the final station; the net of heaven is the final station.
Among the constituents of society, producers are consumers of another kind, and consumers are producers of another kind; thus, this cycle of life is equivalent to the continuous life of the entire society and the common prosperity of the entire society.
We are Gandhi's "flesh and blood"; we are not the shadows of the government!
Any good person sometimes wants to kill and set fire; any bad person sometimes will kill and set fire. Killing and setting fire is one of humanity's inherited impulses. The way to prevent it is education and prisons; the way to elevate it is through Agatha Christie's novels.
How many people commit acts harmful to the country in the name of patriotism, yet they never reflect; they only scold others as traitors. (From "Patriots in the Remaining Diary")
The Nationalist Party member I admire most is a deceased one named Cai Yuanpei.
When reading, one must be solemn, calm, and focused; if one can calm down and focus, one can read in any noisy environment; otherwise, skimming through is equivalent to reading in vain.
Life can be transformed into a heap of philosophical systems; I have no intention of this. The life I understand comes mostly from scattered instances, more from practitioners than from abstract thinkers.
Loneliness is being in a wilderness; loneliness is walking alone in a graveyard; loneliness is looking at the moon when there is no sound at all.
Lincoln said he had no time to argue; life is meant for important matters. (From "The Realm of First-Class People")
The relationships between people are very humorous: some people meet and regret not meeting sooner, some people meet and regret meeting too early, some people should never meet, and some should meet but miss the chance—misunderstandings abound, and they can never meet.
Isolation is not a problem, but isolation without strength is to be feared; strength mainly includes resilience, health, and wealth. Otherwise, it can be very awkward. A person may lose everything in the end, but if they still have strength, it indicates they still have a small platform to recover. The hardest part of life is to accumulate some small platforms at the beginning; if they can be accumulated, they must be kept! (From "Picking Up Pieces in Life")
Western poets see the world from a grain of sand, from a flower they see heaven; Eastern poets see the passage of time from the Yangtze River, see the waxing and waning from the bright moon... These observations can yield insights beyond mere enjoyment: humanity and nature are fundamentally one.
Factors of unhappiness: In a day, people are rarely completely happy; there are times of distress and times of complete calm (when there is no distress, but also no happiness).
Debtors of knowledge.
Reading without writing is a form of evading responsibility... Those with knowledge and insight, if you pursue knowledge and explore knowledge as your profession, you have been reading for twenty or thirty years. Your responsibility is to write down your insights from those twenty or thirty years for humanity; only then do you not owe humanity. You have a responsibility to write down these insights; you are a debtor of human knowledge. Self-affirmation.
Self-affirmation is the most important. "If you succeed, the people will follow; if you do not succeed, walk your own path... This is called a true man."
"Feilai Peak"
Come to the mountain with a thousand-foot tower, hearing the rooster crow and seeing the sun rise. Do not fear the floating clouds obscuring your view, for you are on the highest level.
Efforts are not in vain.
Hu Shi liked to write "Those who act will succeed; those who walk will arrive"; liked to write "Plant melons, get melons; plant beans, get beans"; liked to write "Efforts are not in vain."
"In vain" is a term from Buddhist scriptures, meaning it has gone to waste. Efforts are not in vain means that efforts will never go to waste. A person's efforts, when unseen and unthought of, in unseen and unthought of places, will take root, sprout, bloom, and bear fruit.
The pain people suffer today is merely the bad fruit of past bad causes; to reap good fruit in the future, people must strive to sow good causes now. When sowing causes, one must recognize that success does not have to be mine, but effort must not be in vain. You may not be able to wait, but the willows you did not intend to plant and the flowers you intentionally planted will eventually come to fruition, allowing future generations to "seek flowers and ask willows."
The freedom of unfreedom.
If you feel free in your heart, then freedom is there; if you feel unfree in your heart, then shackles are there.
Spencer said:
No one can be completely free unless everyone is completely free; no one can be completely moral unless everyone is completely moral; no one can be completely happy unless everyone is completely happy.
The silence of freedom.
In an age of flattery, maintaining the freedom not to flatter is not easy. Because the freedom not to flatter belongs to one of the silences of freedom.
The Chinese-style good person.
These examples all prove that the criteria for "Chinese-style good people" are problematic; such standards not only fail to select first-class outstanding individuals but instead produce a large number of hypocrites, bad people, and local sycophants. Throughout history, the "average citizen" of the Chinese people has not been very competent; the reason lies in the problem with the standards of good people.
Practicing to abandon toxic thoughts is the first step toward a vibrant life. Many things are not fundamentally rebellious; the words of sages should not be easily believed. (From "The Philosophy of Seeking Joy")
Adversity and prosperity.
Many people pursue prosperity and good fortune, but few know: formal adversity and misfortune, if faced correctly with the right outlook on life, are actually a transformation of prosperity and good fortune, another form of prosperity and good fortune.
Only those who cannot comprehend life or penetrate its essence will polarize prosperity and adversity and oppose good fortune and misfortune.
Loneliness is not isolation.
Loneliness is not about not seeing people or "friends." In a crowd, you often find that only you are thinking about what you care about. Others' faces may seem friendly, their voices may seem kind, but that is limited to the lives of beings and the mundane world; beyond that, they immediately become ignorant, cold, and numb, as if neighbors are worlds apart, and encounters feel like strangers.
Warriors and cowards.
There is only one reason to move forward; there are a hundred reasons to retreat. Many people spend all day looking for a hundred reasons to prove they are not cowards, yet never use a single reason to prove they are warriors.
Proof by fact counts.
The most annoying words in the world are the reasons of the defeated; the most nauseating words are the reasons for failure, along with a bunch of new guarantees from someone with no credibility.
True gold fears no fire.
Without fire, there would certainly be more beautiful people and beautiful things.
Enemies and friends.
It is wrong to say someone is either an enemy or a friend; it is right to say someone is either a friend or an enemy. Enemies should be broadly defined; friends should be strictly admitted.
"A late friend is not a friend."
Comrades.
Do not easily trust comrades. Being a fellow traveler makes one a stranger. — Comrades are the easiest to turn against. (From "Li's Sayings")
Creating and solving.
Some people are far better at creating problems than solving them. Such people are best made enemies, not friends.
Life is short; the way of friendship that involves drinking and feasting must be abandoned.
No need to explain.
Sometimes explanations are unnecessary. — Enemies do not believe your explanations, and friends do not need your explanations.
The art of getting along.
"Affectionate yet not possessive," this is the way of the sage; "friendship yet indifferent," this is the way of gentlemen.
Human relationships.
Having too good human relations can obstruct the truth.
From the south to the north.
A little ink can turn flowers into honey, benefiting people.
New meanings of words.
Coffin — a house that forever belongs to you. Conscience — something that is unkind? It does not prevent you from doing something beforehand but blames you for it for a lifetime afterward.
Education — teaching students what they do not want to learn, teaching parents what they cannot teach, teaching oneself what one does not want to teach.
Smoke — the wife of insomniacs, the lover of the heartbroken. Fortune — a day without curses from the wife. Anus — the way to wealth, expelling waste, collecting gold. Expression — none (insufficient), and people call you a mummy; with it (excessive), people call you a superstar. Manuscript fee — a debt that authors can never fully repay. Love — the great director of comedy and tragedy. (From "Diary of a Cadet")
Those who want to be heroes and martyrs in modern times have lost the freedom to "die gloriously"; they must die humbly, die ugly, die with words unspoken and blood unflowing.
They seek benevolence but cannot attain it, and instead die unjustly; they want to die with a bad reputation, to die like cowards! (From "On the Absence of 'Bloody Freedom'")
The performance of this machine is: ① no need for extensive knowledge, only strong memorization, especially strong note-taking; ② good handwriting (this is Miss Y's first standard for marriage); ③ fast writing; ④ able to spill all memorized notes within an hour.
The crisis in Taiwan's education today cannot be called the creation of "reading machines," but rather the creation of "exam machines." The youth's lack of spirit, lack of individuality, lack of progressive insight, and lack of inspiring thinking and skepticism are all due to the uniform examination system!
Because in the face of justice, we cannot be unjust witnesses.
Therefore, I say that under the "extreme" of the environment, if we do not act cowardly by one part, we should act courageously by one part; if we can express our true selves, we should wear a mask less often. If we can soar high, we hope to fly like a resourceful nine-headed bird; if we fall with the nest, we hope not to be a too awkward villain; if we are at the bottom of the pot, we hope not to be meat on the chopping board, but a living wandering soul!
There is a saying in Hunan: "A bowl of rice nurtures a benefactor; a dou of rice nurtures an enemy." It means that when a person is in poverty or danger, if you give them a bowl of rice, they will be grateful to you for life as their benefactor; but if you handle it poorly, making them rely on you or develop a bad habit of dependence, then even if you give them a dou of rice (n bowls of rice), they will still feel unsatisfied and say you have wronged them. This is a human nature issue. (From "Paranoia and the Old Lady")
An iron pestle can be ground into a needle, but a wooden pestle can only be ground into a toothpick. If the material is wrong, no amount of effort will help.
If everything is done only when deemed important, then how can there be telephones in the world? Bell's great merit, traced back to its source, lies in his doing "unimportant" silly things. (From "Importance vs. Unimportance")
As the old saying goes, "A broken broom is worth a thousand gold," you may wonder why a broken broom is so precious that it deserves such a price. But similarly, before understanding the importance, it is best not to deny it first. — Because this broken broom may be particularly important to him.
Under the rule of Japanese militarism and German fascism, how many intellectuals like Hirota Koki and Speer did not know, who only knew "small virtues" but not "great virtues," only valued small actions while neglecting large actions and great principles. They thought they were loyal to their country, believing that the object of their sacrifice was a suffering nation, thus becoming loyal subjects and obedient officials, "dedicating themselves to the utmost until death." Little did they know that what they did was merely foolish loyalty to a single party, a single family, and a single surname, and they were complicit in evil; in terms of "great virtues," they were "exceedingly idle." (From "Commentary on Great Principles")
Legendary figures have their own vast waters, not limited to a ladle; they have their own choices, different from the mundane gains and losses.
Immortals only have the issue of spirit because they have spirit but no flesh; animals only have the issue of flesh because they have flesh but no spirit. The issue of both spirit and flesh only occurs in humans. The spirit-flesh issue is only a human issue.
Good causes turn into blessings, turning defeat into success.
The wise look at worldly affairs with a smile, the wise have the capacity to tolerate others—even indulging them (including friends, enemies, women, and children); the wise know contentment.
The wise are not confused, not worried, and not afraid.
Knowing a little more freedom means a little less distress; knowing that living one day means losing one day, working an extra hour means accumulating (saving) an hour of harvest, and being happy for a day means earning a day.
In high society, no one dares to "act on behalf of heaven"; they are merely hypocritical, which is truly contemptible.
A truly good person must be wise, benevolent, courageous, wild, unique, "praised by the world without being flattered," "criticized by the world without being discouraged," and "even if there are thousands of people, I will go."
A truly good person is never hypocritical, never a local sycophant, never one to avoid offending others, never charming, never one to please everyone, never one to go with the flow, never one to follow the official line, never one to join a dominant party.
A truly good person never aligns with the strong; a truly good person never degrades themselves to seek favor from society; a truly good person never cares about being slandered, imprisoned, or framed. ... A truly good person is a true man.
Looking around the vast world, who is a true man?
Life inevitably brings wounds, but do not run away with wounds on your back.
Others' knowledge is merely a battery, so one must recharge often; my knowledge is a generator, with no electricity to recharge— I am full of electricity. (From "Li's Sayings")
To gain the world's talents and teach them is no joy ("Teaching disciples, beating the master." What joy is there?); to gain the world's fools and scold them is a joy.
Achievements in life are like a street cleaner; no matter how you do it, it cannot be seen, but if you do nothing, it becomes apparent.
Cowardly hypocrites turn white into gray; bold hypocrites turn black into gray. The most successful way to invert black and white is not to invert black and white but to eliminate black and white altogether.
I neither wear a tailcoat nor drink cocktails. — I hate all social activities.
A warm bath is for the buttocks to enjoy while the head suffers; watching movies is for the head to enjoy while the buttocks suffer; listening to Taiwanese scholars speak is for both the head and buttocks to suffer.
A birthday gift of a blank death certificate; a wedding gift of two blank divorce certificates. Only those who can give such gifts are true friends.
Young people care about size, young adults care about length, and middle-aged people care about hardness and softness. — From the perspective of concern for the penis, one can see the realm of life.
Newspapers do not increase in size, like sardines in a can; when newspapers increase in size, they are like bread soaked in water.
So-called "research" is seeing what others see and thinking what others do not think.
Discussion is the exchange of wisdom; debate is the addition of ignorance.
Work should be done to the point of "being urged to eat" rather than "waiting to eat"; only then is it qualified.
You cannot wait until you have enthusiasm to save people; you cannot wait until you have inspiration to write. Just like a prostitute cannot wait until she has sexual desire to entertain clients. — For the things you should do, even if it is forced, you must do them.
A progressive society relies on everyone's trust in the law.
I am gradually understanding why there is so much violent wind in society! Ordinary people do not believe in the law, and the law cannot truly defend them against injustice; they have grievances but nowhere to seek redress or vent, and without the ability to endure humiliation, they are naturally driven to desperation, "the government forces the people to revolt," this is what it means!
When the people believe in the courts and the courts take cases seriously, that is the true starting point of "rule of law"; otherwise, "rule of law," "rule of law," is merely a slogan propagated by party hacks, merely a lie for the "Minister of Judicial Administration" to take credit!
One must know that a progressive society must rely on the rule of law and on everyone's trust in the law.
"Straightforward advice" is certainly very moving, but in methodology and foundational concepts, it fundamentally "does not hit the mark."
What is "slipping of the hand"? "Slipping of the hand" is killing happily and swiftly, but sooner or later, it will lead to problems, killing indiscriminately, and in the end, even innocent good people or those who should not be killed will be slaughtered, causing everyone to feel anxious, with no legal order, and society will not resemble a society.
Using "imagined situations" to "guess" who the murderer is in a life-and-death case is a form of "law enforcement" that we absolutely do not dare to experience. We believe this is the source of all wrongful convictions and human rights violations.
We cannot help but blame the "government" officials and representatives of public opinion; we must question what you have been doing all day? What good things have you done that do not reverse progress?
The grand events of the day... these are the numb responses of the absurd "free Chinese public opinion" to Mr. Li Ao's call to "guide legislators onto the right path"! Since the winter of '51 until this summer, "Wenxing" magazine has been calling for and proposing methods for legislators and the public opinion community to reflect, yet they remain obstinately ignorant and even escalate their actions. To this shameful phenomenon, we can only let history continue their demise. (From "Report from the Editorial Office of Magazine in August 1964") Copyright. When humanity began to write books, it was merely for the joy of writing, without any thought of "copyright" or "intellectual property rights"; such thoughts are a product of the modern concept of property rights. In Britain, the formation of an advanced and prosperous society occurred quite early; once it formed such a society, everything had to be systematic and habitual. Although the ancestors of Britain were Nordic pirates, once they donned the garb of civilization, they had to act like humans—at least among themselves, they had to act like humans. In other words, among themselves, they could no longer be pirates; if they wanted to be pirates, they had to go out to sea and not pirate at home; "homegrown pirates" are unacceptable. Thus, Britain gradually formed laws to protect property rights, and copyright is one of them. The definition of copyright is: the book compiled and printed by me belongs to me; you, kid, can only obediently buy it and must not harbor any ill thoughts or pirate it! The price of the book is also set by me; I can set it as high as I want; if you cannot afford it, that is your problem! Do poor people still want to read? Nonsense! (From "Long Live Pirates") Personal attacks are a plague. In debate situations, "personal attacks" are like a plague; everyone fears encountering them, yet they can happen to anyone; once a person is unfortunately infected, they will immediately spread it to others.
Chinese people must progress, starting from concepts of "seriousness," "unwillingness to give up," "seeking clarity," and "not letting others take advantage."
Later, the law emerged, beginning to classify crimes in a civilized manner; the modern classification is: 1. Life sentences (death penalty—electric chair, gallows, shooting), 2. Freedom sentences (imprisonment, detention, parole, etc.), 3. Property sentences (fines, labor service, confiscation), 4. Qualification sentences (deprivation of public rights).
Chinese intellectuals are perhaps the most shameful class in China. This class is caught between the rulers and the common people, manipulating both sides.
The fundamental reasons for the special status of Chinese intellectuals are threefold: one is an agricultural society, two is an authoritarian situation, and three is the difficulty of the written language. Agricultural society and authoritarian situations require a structure of "knowing one's fate," "focusing on the basics," "being conservative," and "obeying," which cannot rely solely on the authority of the old or the emperor's axe; "gaining the world immediately" does not mean "immediately governing the world." To gain and govern, one must dismount and consult scholars, allowing scholars to create abstract structures to balance and control.
The way Chinese people express patriotism is overly focused on the transfer and concentration of power, with very few interested in forms of patriotism outside of power; this is a great failure of intellectuals! The intellectuals of the new era must feel that discussing heart-to-heart studies is indeed laughable, but hiding in research institutions with white hair is not much better.
I do not like the vast majority of Chinese people in America; they are clearly escapees from China but turn around and constantly critique the battle.
Intellectuals should lead in thought, providing a vision for the direction of the nation.
Bookworms are not as good as fools; at least fools do not deceive themselves with theories or become annoying. If knowledge turns a person into an ineffective empty framework, it is like learning to drive on paper; when it comes to practice, it is of little use.
Regardless of whether they are common laborers, orphaned deities, daytime laborers, or souls of the black prison, they are all suffering Chinese people; they are the life of China; they are truly Chinese.
"Quick Look at "
Therefore, theoretically, independent intellectuals are difficult to exist in China; even if they exist, they are hard to grow; even if they grow, they are hard to thrive; even if they thrive, they are hard to last; and even if they last, they are hard to end well. So, what should these people do? They think of a way, which is to live in seclusion.
Cutting grass seems easy, but removing roots is difficult. Because the "supernatural powers" of free intellectuals far exceed those of foolish totalitarians.
In chaotic times, they can endure such suffering, regard wealth and honor as floating clouds, and persist in their beliefs, maintaining their integrity without mingling with the corrupt; this is no small feat!
Better to die with a cry than to live in silence!
This indicates that a person is only considered a person if they are willing to "cry" regardless of everything. A person would rather die for "crying" than live in silence.
Seeing the bad, I must speak.
Today's China, strictly speaking, has no so-called pure "literati"; pure literati have long starved to death, and those who have not starved have long since changed careers to sell cigarettes. Today's group of people who play with words, apart from the likes of Li Ao who are lofty, can generally be divided into two categories: 1. Literary beggars 2. Literary police.
So-called beggars are those who beg for food from words, use words to mix meals, and vent emotions that are not worth venting through words. Their papers are filled with darkness and pain, yet they do not truly understand what real darkness and pain in the world are.
Their mission, apart from praising and beautifying peace, is to advocate for "combat literature." The so-called "combat" does not mean fighting against external enemies but rather closing the door and "fighting among themselves"—shooting at cultural figures who are fundamentally opposed to the enemy.
Freedom and democracy are purely Western concepts; there is none of this in Chinese culture.
What can inherent culture give us, apart from hollow terms and abstract concepts? The result of saving inherent culture, apart from further exposing its misery, what else can it achieve?
There is no doubt that we have fallen into a cultural rigidity today. One reason for this rigidity is the desire to cling to the legs of our ancestors.
For example, Rinji, Xu Tong, and Gu Hongming are ordinary traditionalists; Huang Renji, Liang Shuming, and Qian Mu are radical retrogressors; Xu Guangqi, Zhang Junmai, and Hu Qiuyuan are leapfrogging futurists.
They all believe that the legacy of their ancestors is useful, has value for innovation, and is still needed for building a modernized China; it must not be abruptly severed or discarded altogether.
Our compatriots have a terminal illness called "superficial tasting." Any good thing, when it reaches our mouths, is merely licked by the tip of the tongue, and before it is eaten, we declare it unpalatable! Once eaten, it is bound to cause stomach problems! At least it is not to our taste! There is nothing nutritious!
Pan-Ancestralism is reliance on the old; the flaw of superficial tasting is suspicion of the new.
The Boxer Rebellion was the purest rejection of the West and the most unified group in action.
Look at how many people in our society drive cars from 1961 but have the mindset of 1691?
Our physical bodies are born in modern times, but our thoughts are often outdated, ancient, or even primitive tribal.
Thus, a living person with a head full of "zombie thoughts" is not surprising in our society. The so-called zombie thoughts come in many varieties: for example, "Confucius's thoughts," "Ximen Qing's thoughts," "Wei Zhongxian's thoughts," "Yuan Datou's thoughts,"... they can all be found in the lifeless walking corpses of Chinese people.
They all calculate with a "buying the box and returning the pearl" mentality towards Western culture, unaware that such a good dream is fundamentally unattainable.
We try our best to learn, but "inertia," "immortality," and "national essence" have long been discounted, so we easily fall into the result of "only getting part of it," thus we have more necessity to "take from the top" and the necessity to aim for "fullness."
Returning to youth cannot be achieved with old medicine, and modernizing China cannot rely on ancient methods.
Do we still want to shout slogans to live?
The tradition of staging fake dramas is our ancient civilization; for two thousand years, which emperor has not hung the sheep's head of Confucianism while selling the dog's meat of Legalism? Any grand display is merely for show; under the impact of superior civilization and the nature of human desires, I do not believe that those who loudly proclaim "heavenly principles" do not kneel to "human desires."
The little light of modern Western culture has been exchanged for countless hardships; even if there are drawbacks, they cannot shake them off, yet you want to take the best and leave the worst; is there such a cheap thing in the world?
We always want to take advantage of our ancestors' residual blessings, always wanting to catch up with a little bit of ancestral footwork.
We must play the spring song of industrial society and cannot rely on the old pipa of agricultural society.
Little do we know that the transformation of oranges into citrons is precisely the mischief of inherent culture!
Today, Galileo's spirit and teachings endure forever, but those who captured him, judged him, and wanted to burn him at the stake—where have those devils gone?
How to destroy the enemy's Great Wall in the midst of laughter is my great responsibility bestowed upon me.
Deformed freedom and democracy.
The people educated in such frameworks naturally sing praises and shout long live all day, constantly "thanking the government for its virtue," and singing the praises of the "great government." Such a development of freedom and democracy is a deformed freedom and democracy, a servile freedom and democracy, a sheep's freedom and democracy, not a man's freedom and democracy!
They take pleasure in this all day, causing others to follow suit and become supporting roles in servility.
The drawbacks of "political leadership" are that it often creates a state of "national frenzy," generates "collective excitement," creates "unity of purpose," and makes the people always turn with politics and follow politics; this is very dangerous.
When Kennedy was president, he honored the great poet Frost at the White House, publicly praising him and declaring: power corrupts, poetry purifies, and everyone should look up to literati.
Some heroes were not heroes at first; they often started as politicians. If they had been heroes from the beginning, they would have long since become martyrs.
I am a historian; historians only know to pursue the truth of history, without considering anything else.
The history department is a mysterious department; it can make the madman madder, the stubborn more stubborn, and the fool more foolish.
History is a box of talk; bad guys fear people speaking, but history speaks endlessly. Bad guys truly have no way out.
There are failures and heroes, but there are no heroes who fail. Wen Tianxiang and Shi Kefa are both great successful heroes. Heroes never fail; even when the sky falls, they can still catch a swan.
In other words, we cannot use the "binary method" to define people's merits and faults just because we fear trouble; we also cannot casually adopt the elementary school-style thinking method of "this is a good person" and "that is a bad person."
Under the question of loyalty and treachery, throughout history, how many people have stolen great names, and how many have been wrongly labeled with bad reputations?
Questioning the living while punctuating the dead, such a precaution can avoid major mistakes!
This system extends directly to the so-called "Chinese Medicine Academy," which has not yet died out; there are still countless little "Hua Tuo" and little "Qi Bo" appearing in this pitiful country, harming this pitiful nation, making them consume tree roots and herbal medicines, swallowing insect dung and black soup.
The Song Dynasty was a dynasty that was spirited internally but cowardly externally; it was a dynasty of "being a warrior in front of lambs and a lamb in front of warriors."
The prophets of China tell the Chinese people—"The revolution has not yet succeeded"; China's future still requires a revolution that aligns with heaven and humanity!
We did not expect that the 253,000 types of literature accumulated over 2,500 years would have little positive use for us in the new world.
Let us no longer breathe the air of the old era! Rather than being a filial son of the old era, it is better to be a martyr of the new era! (From "An Answer to the Trend of Chinese Thought")
Our tradition is the "gentleman" style of Confucianism; under this tradition, the personality standards praised by ordinary people are surprisingly heavy with ignorance, mediocrity, and a lack of ambition, accepting fate, being content with one's lot, avoiding disputes, not interfering in others' affairs, not showing off, not making enemies, not deviating from the norm, and respecting the elderly... The personalities forged by these standards can be imagined.
In traditional China, there is no truth beneath the name, no right or wrong beneath seniority, and no straight path beneath the teacher's way.
Thus, the beginning of the problem is the beginning of knowledge.
Drinking, in itself, is an enjoyment, but Chinese people have overly ritualized it, making it unnatural.
Due to the strong family concept of Chinese people, its drawbacks are numerous, becoming an obstacle to China's progress. Its major shortcomings are: 1. The younger generation lacks freedom. 2. The younger generation easily develops a dependency mentality, lacking a pioneering spirit. 3. Gender inequality. 4. Unfree marriages. 5. Easily damaging relationships, cramming women aged eighty to eighteen together, naturally leading to "mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts," "sister-in-law disputes," and "brotherly quarrels." 6. Overemphasis on "family law," neglecting the law. 7. Overemphasis on one's family's interests, lacking public and patriotic awareness.
The kinship that Chinese people like to praise is "nine clans," which includes: great-grandparents → great-grandparents → grandparents → parents → oneself → children → grandchildren → great-grandchildren → great-great-grandchildren.
In traditional Chinese concepts, a person does not belong to themselves but to their family; they do not represent themselves but represent their family.
The manifestation of "cultural chauvinism" is in the "literary field," relying on empty words; the manifestation of "Boxer Rebellion thinking" is in the "martial field," relying on actions.
Apart from the belief that it is inauspicious, there is also a meaning of concealing certain facts.
Old classics are absolutely unfit to solve today's social problems; advocating for classics to save the world is equivalent to advocating for fake dramas, advocating for further complicating an already complex self.
We have been harmed by classics for two thousand years; "hollowness" and "grandiosity" are characteristics of our nation and also its terminal illness.
The greatest wish of these intellectuals is to impose inherent culture onto the new world while also imposing Confucian classics onto inherent culture; their failure is inevitable.
The omen is that the Chinese people have had this singular grand tradition for five thousand years, which is also a grand deception that has lasted for five thousand years.
The Chinese nation is skilled at "speaking of propriety" but not at "speaking of reason."
"Ritual" has turned into the way of "communication between people," becoming formalities, becoming customs, and even becoming false feelings and pretenses.
China's feudalism is actually pervasive; to sweep them away, one must first cut deeply into each one to solve it. The tactic of cutting deeply into each one is: regardless of the size of the topic, as long as it can be elaborated on, whether large or small, showing a "grand gesture," it is worth writing about.
Chinese people lack a decent standard for judging articles.
The basic issues of an article are just two: 1. What do you want to express? 2. Are you expressing it well? These two questions are one and cannot be separated.
The basic causes of the "nostalgia" concept are one, the agricultural society's attachment to land; two, the underdeveloped transportation and inconvenient communication of ancient times. These factors no longer exist or have diminished in our modern society, so the meaning of "nostalgia" has become increasingly meaningless.
Among a large crowd, A and B have no differences in opinions, C and D have no differences in viewpoints; everyone is so similar, similar to the point of lacking creativity, lacking individuality, and lacking thoughts that have not been oppressed by old stubbornness.
Today's Chinese literary world is like a dark room. The dark room has no windows on all sides.
We no longer need traces of weakness and distress, nor do we need literature of weakness and distress.
In terms of systems, democracy is still insufficient; it must be habitual democracy to be considered complete. To truly reduce the disparity between the big shots and the little people in habits is to achieve true democracy.
Democracy itself is not only a system but also a belief, a way of life, a universal direction and goal.
Up and down, everyone has this freedom, which proves that this region has made democracy a belief, a way of life, and a universal phenomenon. Everyone can joke with each other, which proves that this region has a sense of humor and a democratic temperament.
Thus, ignorant common people think they support the "government" and love the "government," often inadvertently supporting "a small group of people" and loving a small group of ruling elites who will never step down!
Truly free and democratic-minded common people must strive to awaken: to awaken to the fact that the "government" is not your father, nor your benefactor; regarding the "government," you are the master, and you must not degrade yourself, thanking it for its "virtuous governance," praising its "great achievements."
Animals that wag their tails at the "government" are unworthy of freedom and democracy!
Our "cobbler" should always be the voice of the people speaking for us, not the echo of the government.
To perform well in the democratic drama, one must use the path of democracy.
Governance does not require being high above to guide public opinion; rather, it should align with public opinion and flow with those below, which is the first-class approach.
Whether it is the state, the government, or the emperor, regardless of what it is, the main responsibility lies in protecting the people; if it cannot protect the people, when disaster strikes, it will lose the country, relocate the capital, and abandon the common people; after the situation stabilizes, it will instead act with great vigor, using names like traitors, collaborators, and thieves to deal with people; what kind of skill is that? When a region falls, it is the government that abandons the people, not the people who abandon the government. After the Huangchao Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, Huangchao's concubines were sent before the rulers, who were puzzled and said: You are all girls from good families; why did you follow the bandits? The girls replied: We followed the bandits only to lose our virtue, but the state, with millions of people, could not refuse the bandits; how can we be blamed? However, the rulers will not self-reflect; they killed these girls to show their power and to punish those who could not die for their country.
When all "progressive" judicial guarantees make the common people feel cold; when all "modern" relief measures disappoint the common people, what should those poor weaklings do? Apart from trying out "ancestral secret recipes," what else can they do?
Assassination is an unseemly political means; it seems to be only affirmed in the case of revolutionary parties standing up against the ruling powers; otherwise, it is often looked down upon.
Consolidating Confucius's position is equivalent to consolidating the rulers' own position.
Hu Shi wrote to young friends over fifty years ago, pointing out: "Now some people tell you: 'Sacrifice your personal freedom to seek the freedom of the nation!' I tell you: 'Fighting for your personal freedom is fighting for the freedom of the nation! Fighting for your own personality is fighting for the nation's personality! A country of freedom and equality cannot be built by a group of slaves!'"
We must not forget that we are, after all, people who have been cramped on the same small island for many years; whatever kind of rulers there are, naturally, there will be that kind of opposition. If the opposition lacks examples and vigilance, it is easy to fall into confusion and wrong paths.
Philosophy is better to act than to sit and talk; love is better to lie down and act than to sit and talk.
Some say "love is blind"; in fact, blind people are unworthy of discussing love because they do not know how to love. Blind people do not understand love at all; they merely believe in love; they do not understand the true essence of love: love is not "eternal," yet blind people desperately try to make it eternal; love is not "exclusive," yet blind people desperately try to make it exclusive. As a result, there is worry, worry, and a haze of worry!
I feel that love that is concerned with gains and losses is a lower form of love; furthermore, any love that is jealous, possessive, desperate, or tearful is not the correct form of love. Love itself should be the greatest source of joy; everything else should take a back seat.
Everyone either pursues simple physical desires or indulges in unopen emotions; to resolve simple physical desires, they choose promiscuity; to free themselves from unopen emotions, they choose insomnia, martyrdom, or passion killings.
Anyone who knows a little about worldly affairs can understand that simple love does not necessarily benefit others; it often harms others instead.
Under the attitude of love, everyone becomes a coward, putting on masks and retreating underground. No one dares to reveal their true feelings; at most, they can achieve secret communication and private love, revealing a scene of abnormality, perversion, self-indulgence, and hypocrisy!
The traditional view of love in China has gone awry, and the most fundamental reason is that relationships between men and women do not rely on free love but on "parents' orders and matchmakers' words."
Between men and women, apart from beauty, there should be nothing else, nor should there be anything else.
A Western proverb says: "We marry because we do not understand, and we separate because we understand."
Love is ultimately a luxury, a relic of the Victorian era; modern Chinese girls are rarely willing to love for love's sake; their mothers are also fundamentally unwilling to guide them this way; each of them uses their mother's feelings to fit their young hearts, not allowing love to run wild in the field of emotions—unless the horse's neck is tied to a lifelong commitment!
They always assume that the boy is her future spouse; they do not measure his intellect but gauge his wallet; love itself carries a heavy burden of life; who still dares to reveal true feelings?
A perfect woman has not found a perfect man; she merely mistakes "servants" for "heroes."
Clearly, women's independence should not rely on their husbands' contributions but should rely on washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, and delivery services... transferring the burden of household chores to industrial civilization, so that the home does not become a woman's constraint; women do not have to marry dogs and live off dogs; they can let their feelings run wild before marriage, choosing boyfriends who prioritize style over career; husbands who prioritize passion over money.
Reality is so pressing; marriage becomes a means of survival.
Modern marriage should purely be a union of love between men and women, not "following parents' orders" or "following children's orders."
Today's girls prefer gentle-tempered men; they like men who bow low and wag their tails, who persistently follow them. In other words, they like men with a bit of servile flavor; such men will serve, will be considerate, will endure, will kneel for three hours; they are not afraid of wind and rain, not afraid of waiting, not afraid of the girl's dormitory's communication, not afraid of the girl's "no," and not afraid of hitting any nails!
I will no longer suffer for love.
1. Always comparing the present with the past will lead to suffering. 2. If you have not tried, you have no reason not to like it. 3. Only give women shadows. 4. The heart of Dongfang Shuo is never troubled. 5. Tears do not fall easily; feelings have long been numb. 6. Marry for merit, not for misfortune. 7. After marriage, they are no longer friends. 8. Do not think too much about the past, nor too much about the future; live in the present. 9. Have common behaviors but no common thoughts.
1. Life should be about transformation rather than profession—great actors. 11. Those who are too stubborn find it difficult to get along with others and are unhappy. 12. Extreme thoughts lead to contradictory actions, like Laski and Spinoza. 13. This society does not allow free love but allows green lights. 14. When reputation is bad, make it worse; then your reputation will be good. 15. Between men and women, the fear of dragging things out is paramount; once dragged out, even a bit of feeling is doomed.
Truly enlightened and wise individuals, when they seek pleasure in food and drink, do not carry the erroneous thoughts of being spiritual yet physical.
If there is no soulmate, I do not love people.
Change a brush every March; love is like a toothbrush (or "women are like toothbrushes"), but seeking a trend does not seek a flower that understands words.
According to the standards of sages, using food as a metaphor, if a person eats merely out of a sense of responsibility to fill their stomach, what is the meaning? Only when delicious food is present, with an elegant atmosphere, can one eat heartily and not waste this belly. The same goes for matters between men and women. Roosters do not talk to hens; pressing them to the ground and pulling them up, what kind of sentiment is that? If a person has reached this point, no matter how high their morals are, it is still uninteresting. Therefore, the joy between men and women should be artistic, colorful, bizarre, transcendent, and thoroughly enjoyed; only then can it be said that one has not wasted this "life." (The word "life" is a pun, referring both to life and to the reproductive organ).
Sex is the most primitive, interesting, and greatest motivation. (From "Li's Sayings")
Instructor Li told me his view on life: "Do not speak falsely in front of friends, do not speak truthfully in front of your wife."
If "truth," "goodness," and "beauty" cannot be obtained simultaneously, women must choose one-third; all women in the world would rather not be true women, not be good women, but to be beautiful women. Women would rather be fake women or bad women than not be beautiful.
Looking at that beast that has flown far away, I cannot help but drool; however, it must be said that even if I eat dog meat, it is useless; I am so ugly, and my temper is so violent; these two points are fatal flaws in dating.
Those with emotion but no sensuality can become female writers; those with sensuality but no emotion can become female stars; those with neither can become "Ouba"; those with both emotion and sensuality—can such people exist?
A truly qualified woman is intelligent, gentle, graceful, charming, hardworking, deep, understanding, and considerate of her beloved.
When they manipulate "is," they can shape a realm of "is," saying how good you are; when they manipulate "is not," they can shape a realm of "not," saying how bad you are, bad to the point of deserving it.
Every woman has three major enemies: the first is time, the second is men who do not pursue her, and the third is other beautiful women.
The new women of the past walked out of the kitchen; modern new women do not even enter it.
The less worthy the new women feel, the more they complain that others are unworthy of love.
In ancient China, the only way for women was to marry and become mothers.
Beauty contests were discovered by high-ranking gentlemen who had nothing to do after eating.
They still have a somewhat "petty" style, for example: 1. There are great taboos regarding sexual issues. 2. Excessive shyness and passivity. 3. Excessive pretense, acting, and lack of frankness. 4. Always carrying suspicion and resistance, viewing men with a "keep them at a distance" mentality. 5. Too many denials and evasive words.
1. Hostility and harm towards comparatively generous women. It is not uncommon for them to perform unkind acts, such as returning love letters, publishing love letters, or burning love letters.
Women's sense of right and wrong is the weakest; they analyze facts mostly based on feelings and intuition. They can score a hundred in logic in the classroom, but once they leave the classroom, they throw aside Yin Haiguang's "New Logic."
Women's reasoning and sense of right and wrong are always shapeshifting, changing according to their whims. For example, when she loves you, she will sing your praises to the heavens; but when she does not love you, she can immediately list your "ten major sins" without hesitation.
Therefore, from a woman's mouth, we can always draw two conclusions: 1. She is always justified and never at fault; 2. Men are always wrong and owe her an apology. (From "Three Theories on Women")
The words of women, even if you conduct a thousand qualitative analyses, the content will only consist of these two elements: one is nonsense; the other is bad talk.
I admire those who can listen to women's flowery words on the surface but remain unmoved in their hearts.
Women always take "feelings" as "evidence" because they have never studied what "evidence" is.
When women meet, they always praise each other for being beautiful; if there is not even a one-thousandth chance of beauty, they will then praise each other's coats; if the coat is truly ugly, they will then congratulate each other on making a good purchase: — "You really know how to shop! Where did you buy it? I will go buy one too!"
Women believe in women, and there is only one sentence, but unfortunately, this sentence is a lie. This lie is: "You are so beautiful!" The person who says this is clearly lying; yet the person who hears it knows it is a lie but insists on believing it. — Because that is the moment when a woman is least suspicious in her life.
Just like the rose growing by the corner of the wall, it has now bloomed again—a solitary bloom, its crimson color reflecting its splendid appearance; it does not have the vulgarity of peonies nor the heavenly fragrance of orchids; it merely blooms quietly, revealing its beauty and loneliness in a hidden manner.