"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 (talk less)
Living this transformative life of "new aspirations differing from the past" can be divided into four stages: the first step is to make grand aspirations, 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.
"Iron-hearted" is the most successful manifestation of willpower; it is more important, effective, and straightforward than any method of being human. Rationality is not enough, emotions are detrimental, and impulsiveness is foolish; only "iron-heartedness" represents the most vigorous and powerful 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 also 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, ask where you are going? You say you are discontented, returning to sleep 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 be tripped by small temptations that hinder the pursuit of magnificent ideals. Keep striving ("I see its progress, but have not seen its end") and work hard; there is nothing in the world that comes without effort. Even if there is a gain without effort, it will not last.
Today, a silent life is done extremely 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! How much achievement could six hundred hours of reading bring! Six hundred hours (twenty-five days) of focused study could make me proficient in a regular botany book! But this starts from the ten minutes that everyone does not value; how much achievement could five months of reading bring! 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 I can view the importance of time with this perspective and foresight, I cannot help but feel an indescribable fear and tension. I clearly feel that I absolutely cannot waste my ten minutes or hour easily anymore! Externally, I am determined not to be disturbed by mundane people and matters; internally, I must spend every ten minutes and hour according to a carefully formulated plan, in accordance with my value awareness!
I know very clearly how to walk this path; the former is a broad-minded perspective; the latter is a practical 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 evade difficulties, and the self-restraint 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 take down a few "hypocrites" and declare a few "hypocrites" as local sycophants.
First-rate people cherish time.
Although I am a fighting person, 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 unlikable. "The more people I know, the more I like dogs."
I no longer naively expect others to change their perspective on me.
I am naturally a cheerful person, and my cheerful nature makes it difficult for me to approach life, writing, and dealing with people with a stern face.
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 house, and for the few friends who came to see me, I appeared passive and indifferent. I have a beloved woman; we meet every night, have dinner together, and I send her home late at night (a ten-minute round trip). The rest of the time is spent alone, reading, writing, listening to records, watching TV, tidying up the room, exercising a bit, and walking around; that is my daily life. I have lived 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 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 agents (confess to a priest), but for those of us who do not believe in these, it is a bit harder, so we have to 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 seek survival even in 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. Efforts are still worthwhile; a real man should not easily lose heart; as long as there is breath, one should "finish this game of billiards," be a bit bold, uplift oneself, 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 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 will.
Fourth, work hard. Work, labor, exercise, a lot of work, a lot of labor, and exercise are all effective remedies for shifting emotions and getting stuck in a rut (positively can improve fitness, negatively can transfer physiological fatigue). Moreover, these activities themselves can 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 ordinary people while not getting angry at oneself is the way of a high-minded person playing with the world.
For twenty years, I have judged myself and others based on the concrete results of what has been done. Beyond that, all grievances, all reasons, all waiting, all humility, all boasting, and all plans, etc., should 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 to validate them, are all false. (From "The Original Vow of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva")
Perhaps the greatest flaw of the Chinese people is their inability to distinguish between reason and emotion, often sacrificing reason for emotion, and often offending people for the sake of reason. This makes it difficult to distinguish right from wrong, but in fact, these are fundamentally two different matters. (From "What Does 'Reason Exists Without Emotion' Mean?")
Cherish your time.
I believe that skilled individuals with good training and observational abilities can gain much "close enough" experience from many indirect media, obtaining 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 experience 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, without experiencing it firsthand, cannot appreciate its hardships; but for great individuals, this hardship is merely a kind of training and transition of "enduring hardship in spirit." With a shift in thought, all hardships can be faced calmly, treated as if nothing happened, taken for granted, 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 abandon 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 depart.
Under the shadow of dark forces, the law's net is not the final stop; the heavenly net is the final stop.
Among the constituents of society, producers are consumers of another kind, and consumers are producers of another form; thus, this cycle of life is equivalent to the continuous vitality of 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 one I admire most among the Kuomintang is a deceased member, named Cai Yuanpei.
When reading, one should be solemn, calm, and focused; if one can focus, one can read in any noisy environment; otherwise, skimming through is equivalent to reading nothing.
Life can be transformed into a heap of philosophical systems; I have no intention of this. The life I understand comes mostly from fragments, from many instances, and less from the abstract.
Loneliness is to be in the wilderness, loneliness is to walk alone in a graveyard, loneliness is to look at the moon when there is no sound at all.
Lincoln said he had no time for debate; life is for doing important things. (From "The Realm of First-Class People")
Relationships between people are very humorous: some people meet and regret not meeting sooner, some meet and regret meeting too soon, some should never meet, and some should meet but miss the chance—misunderstandings abound, and they cannot meet at all.
Isolation is fine, but isolation without strength is precarious; strength mainly includes resilience, health, and wealth. Otherwise, it can be very awkward. If a person has lost everything but still has strength, it means there is still 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 guarded! (From "Picking Up the Pieces of Life")
Western poets see the world from a grain of sand, see heaven from a flower; Eastern poets see the passage of time from the Yangtze River, see the waxing and waning from the bright moon... These observations can bring not only joy but also profound insights: humans and nature are one.
Factors of unhappiness: In a day's life, people are rarely completely happy; there are times of distress and times of complete calm (when one is not distressed, but also not happy).
Debtors of knowledge.
Reading without writing is a form of evading responsibility... Those with knowledge and insights, if you pursue knowledge and explore it 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 are you not indebted to humanity. You have the responsibility to write down these insights; you are a debtor of knowledge to humanity. Self-affirmation.
Self-affirmation is the most important. "If one succeeds, the people benefit; if one does not succeed, one walks one's own path... This is called a real man."
"Flying Peak"
Come to the mountain with a thousand-foot tower, hearing the rooster crowing and seeing the sun rise. Not fearing floating clouds obscuring the view, for I am at the highest level.
Efforts are never wasted.
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 never wasted."
"Wasted" is a term from Buddhist scriptures, meaning it has gone to waste. Efforts are never wasted means that efforts will never go to waste. A person's efforts, when unseen and unexpected, will take root, sprout, and bear fruit.
The pain people suffer today is merely the bad fruits of past evil causes; to reap good fruits in the future, people must strive to plant good causes now. When planting causes, one must recognize that success does not have to depend on oneself, but efforts must not be wasted. You may not be able to wait, but the willows you unintentionally plant and the flowers you intentionally sow will eventually come to fruition, allowing future generations to "seek flowers and ask for willows."
The unfreedom of freedom.
If you feel free in your heart, then freedom exists; if you feel unfree in your heart, then shackles exist.
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 era of flattery, maintaining the freedom not to flatter is not easy. Because the freedom not to flatter belongs to the category of silent freedom.
The Chinese-style good person.
These examples all prove that the standards for judging "Chinese-style good people" are problematic; such standards not only fail to select first-rate outstanding individuals but also 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, and the reason lies in the problem with the standards for good people.
Practicing the abandonment of toxic thoughts is the first step toward a lively life. Many things are not fundamentally against the law; the words of sages should not be taken lightly. (From "The Philosophy of Seeking Joy")
Adversity and prosperity.
Many people pursue prosperity and good fortune, but very 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 do not understand life and cannot penetrate its essence will polarize prosperity and adversity, opposing good fortune and misfortune.
Loneliness is not isolation.
Loneliness does not mean not seeing people or "friends." In a crowd, you often find that only you are thinking what you think, caring about what you care about. Others' faces may be friendly, their voices may be kind, but that is limited to the lives of sentient beings and worldly life; beyond that, they immediately become ignorant, cold, and numb, as if neighbors are worlds apart, and encounters are like strangers.
The warrior and the coward.
There is only one reason to move forward; there are a hundred reasons to retreat. Many people spend all day finding a hundred reasons to prove they are not cowards, yet never use a single reason to prove they are warriors.
Only proving with facts counts.
The most annoying thing in the world is the reasons of failures; the most disgusting thing is that besides the reasons for failure, they come up with a bunch of new guarantees without any credibility.
Real gold fears no fire.
Without fire, there would certainly be more beautiful people, and beautiful things would also exist.
Enemies and friends.
It is wrong to say that someone is either an enemy or a friend; it is correct to say that 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 fellow travelers makes them strangers. — Comrades are the easiest to turn against. (From "Li's Quotations")
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; friends do not need your explanations.
The art of getting along.
"Affectionate yet not possessive," this is the way of the saint; "friendship yet indifferent," this is the way of gentlemen.
Human relationships.
Having too good human relations can obstruct the truth.
From south to 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. Luck — a day without curses from the wife. Anus — the way to make money, excreting waste, collecting gold. Expression — none (insufficient), people call you a mummy; with it (excessive), people call you a superstar. Manuscript fee — is a debt that authors can never 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 of "dying gloriously"; they want to die humbly, die ugly, die with words unspoken, and blood not flowing.
They seek benevolence but cannot attain it, instead dying unjustly; they want to die with a bad reputation, to die like a coward! (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 the first standard for Miss Y's marriage); ③ writing quickly; ④ able to spill all the memorized notes within an hour.
The crisis in Taiwan's education today does not deserve to be called a "reading machine"; it is a complete "exam machine." The youth's lack of spirit, lack of individuality, lack of progressive insights, lack of enlightening thinking ability, and lack of skepticism are all due to the uniform examination system!
Because in the face of justice, we cannot be unjust witnesses.
Therefore, I say, 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 one less time; if we can soar high, we hope to fly like a clever nine-headed bird; if we fall with the nest, we hope not to be a too awkward villain; if we are in the pot, we hope not to be the 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: when a person is poor or in danger, if you give him a bowl of rice, he will be grateful to you for life as his benefactor; but if you handle it poorly, making him have more expectations of you or developing a bad habit of relying on you, then if you give him a dou of rice (n bowls of rice), he will still feel unsatisfied and say you have wronged him. 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 because it is deemed important, then how could there be telephones in the world? Bell's great achievement, when traced back to its roots, lies in his doing "unimportant" silly things. (From "What is Important and What is Not Important")
As the old saying goes, "A broken broom is worth a thousand gold," you may wonder why a broken broom is so special that it deserves such a price. But similarly, before understanding its 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 their efforts were for 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 party, a family, or a 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 one ladle; they have their own choices, different from the mundane gains and losses.
Immortals only have the problem of spirit because they have spirit but no flesh; animals only have the problem of flesh because they have flesh but no spirit. The problem of both spirit and flesh only occurs in humans.
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 that one more point of freedom means one less point of distress, knowing that living one more day means one less day gone, working one more hour means accumulating (saving) one more hour of harvest, and being happy one day means earning one 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, brave, eccentric, independent, "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, sycophantic, non-offensive, smooth-talking, always trying to please, always doing public relations, going with the flow, following the official line, or joining a dominant party.
A truly good person never aligns with the strong; a truly good person never lowers themselves to gain favor from society; a truly good person never cares about being slandered, imprisoned, or framed... A truly good person is a real man.
Looking around the vast world, who is a true man?
Life inevitably involves injury, 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 Quotations")
To gain the talents of the world and teach them brings no joy ("Teaching disciples, hitting the master." What joy is there?); to gain the foolish of the world and scold them brings joy.
Achievements in life are like street cleaners; no matter how you do it, it is not visible, but if you do nothing, it becomes apparent.
The cowardly hypocrite turns white into gray; the bold hypocrite turns black into gray. The most successful inversion of black and white is not the inversion itself, but the absence of black and white.
I neither wear a tailcoat nor drink cocktails. — I hate all social activities.
A three-temperature wash is for the butt to enjoy and the head to suffer; watching movies is for the head to enjoy and the butt to suffer; listening to Taiwanese scholars' lectures is for both the head and butt to suffer.
For a birthday, send a blank death certificate; for a wedding, send two blank divorce certificates. Only those who can give such gifts are true friends.
Young people care about size, young adults care about length, 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 by hunger" rather than "waiting to eat"; only then is it acceptable.
You cannot wait until you have enthusiasm to save people; you cannot wait until you have inspiration to write. Just as a prostitute cannot wait until she has sexual desire to entertain clients. — For things you should do, even if it requires effort, 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 men and women do not believe in the law, and the law really cannot defend them against grievances; they have grievances but nowhere to seek redress or vent, and without the ability to endure humiliation, they are naturally forced to the edge, "the government forces the people to revolt," this is what it means!
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 leads to problems, indiscriminately killing, causing everyone to feel anxious, with no legal order, and society not resembling 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 matters of "prosperity," ... these are the numb responses of the "free Chinese public opinion" to Mr. Li Ao's call to "guide legislators onto the right path"! Since the winter of fifty-one until this summer, "Wenxing" magazine has been calling for and proposing methods for legislators and the public opinion community to reflect, but they remain obstinate and even escalate their actions. For such a shameful phenomenon, we can only let history continue their demise. (From "Report from the Editorial Office of Magazine, August 1964") Copyright When humanity began to write books, it was merely for the joy of writing; they never thought about "copyright" or "intellectual property rights." This notion is a product of modern financial property concepts becoming refined, meaning it is a product of a modern advanced prosperous society that "corrects its principles while seeking its benefits." In terms of Britain, Britain formed an advanced prosperous society quite early; once it formed such a society, everything had to be done in an orderly manner, and everything had to be institutionalized 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 their own, they had to act like humans. In other words, among their own, they could no longer be pirates; if they wanted to be pirates, they had to go out to sea, not pirate at home; "homegrown pirates" would not do. 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, do not harbor any ill thoughts, and do not pirate! 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 the Pirates") Personal attacks are a plague. In debate settings, "personal attacks" are like a plague; everyone fears encountering them, and they can happen to anyone. Once a person is unfortunately infected, they will immediately spread it to others.
For the Chinese to progress, they must start 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 the most shameful class in China. This class is caught between rulers and the common people, manipulating both sides.
The fundamental reasons for the unique status of Chinese intellectuals are three: one is an agricultural society, two is an authoritarian situation, and three is the difficulty of the written language. An agricultural society and an authoritarian situation require a structure of "knowing one's fate," "focusing on the basics," "being conservative," and "obeying." This structure cannot rely solely on the authority of the old or the emperor's axe; "gaining the world quickly" does not mean "governing the world quickly." 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 major failure of intellectuals! Intellectuals of the new era must realize that discussing heartfelt studies and walking through the doors of the powerful is indeed laughable, but hiding in research institutions and writing in solitude 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 and determining the direction for the country.
Bookworms are not as good as fools; at least fools do not deceive themselves with theories or annoy others. If knowledge turns a person into an ineffective empty shell, it is like learning to drive on paper; when it comes to practice, its usefulness is minimal.
Regardless of whether they are commoners, orphans, or the souls of laborers or prisoners, they are all suffering Chinese people; they are the lifeblood of China; they are the real China.
"Quick Look at "
Therefore, theoretically, independent intellectuals are difficult to exist in China; even if they exist, it is hard to grow; even if they grow, it is hard to thrive; even if they thrive, it is hard to last; even if they last, it is hard to end well. So, what should these people do? They have come up with a solution: 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 hardship, regard wealth and honor as floating clouds, and persist in their beliefs, maintaining their integrity without mingling with the crowd; that is truly not easy!
Better to die with a cry than to live in silence!
This indicates that a person must be willing to "cry out" without regard for anything else to be considered a person. A person should rather die for "crying out" than live in silence.
When seeing something bad, I must speak out;
Today in China, strictly speaking, there are no so-called pure "literati"; pure literati have long starved to death, and those who have not starved have long changed careers to sell cigarettes. Today, the group that plays with words in China, aside from the lofty types like Li Ao, 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 make a living, and vent emotions that are not worth venting through words. They fill their papers with darkness and pain, but they do not truly understand what real darkness and pain in the world are.
Their mission, aside from praising and beautifying peace, is to advocate for "combat literature." The so-called "combat" does not mean fighting hard against external enemies, but rather closing the door and "fighting among themselves"—taking potshots at cultural figures who are fundamentally opposite to the enemy.
Freedom and democracy are purely Western concepts; there is none of this in Chinese culture.
What inherent culture can give us, aside from hollow terms and abstract concepts? The result of saving inherent culture, aside from further exposing its misery, what else can be gained?
There is no doubt that we have fallen into a state of cultural rigidity today. One reason for this rigidity is the desire to cling to the legs of our ancestors.
For example, Rinjiro, Xu Tong, and Gu Hongming are ordinary traditionalists; Huang Renji, Liang Shuming, and Qian Mu are radical retrogressives; 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 completely discarded.
Our compatriots have a terminal illness: "superficial tasting." Any good thing, when it reaches our mouths, is merely licked by the tip of the tongue, and before eating, we declare it unappetizing! If we eat it, we will have an upset stomach! At least it does not suit our taste! There is no nutritional value!
Pan-Ancestralism is reliance on the old; the flaw of superficial tasting is skepticism toward the new.
The Boxer Rebellion was the purest rejection of the West and was also the most unified group in action.
Look at how many people in our society are driving cars from 1961 while still holding onto the mindset of 1691?
Our bodies are born in modern times, but our thoughts are often outdated, ancient, or even primitive.
Therefore, 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 Daitao's thoughts,"... they can all be resurrected in the walking dead of the Chinese people.
They all calculate the Western culture with a "buying the box and returning the pearl" mentality, unaware that such a good dream is fundamentally unattainable.
We try our best to learn; "inertia," "immortal," and "national essence" have already been discounted behind our backs, so we easily fall into the result of "only getting part of it," making it even more necessary to "take the higher road" and aim for "fullness."
Returning to youth cannot be achieved with old medicine, and modernizing China cannot rely on ancient methods.
Do we still need to shout slogans to live?
Faking drama is a tradition of our ancient civilized country; for two thousand years, which emperor has not hung the sheep's head of Confucianism while selling the dog's meat of Legalism? Any grandiose display is merely for show; under the impact of superior civilization, and under the nature of the struggle for food and sex, I do not believe that those who loudly shout "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 good and leave the bad. Is there such a cheap deal in the world?
We always want to take advantage of our ancestors' residual blessings, always wanting to catch up based on our ancestral steps.
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 reason oranges turn 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 they gone?
How to destroy the enemy's Great Wall in the midst of laughter is my great responsibility bestowed by heaven.
Deformed freedom and democracy.
The people educated within such frameworks naturally sing praises and shout "long live" all day, thanking the government for its "virtue" and singing the praises of the "great government." Such a developed 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 characters in servility.
The drawbacks of "political leadership" often create a state of "national frenzy," generating "collective excitement," creating "unity of purpose," and making the people always turn 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; everyone should look up to literati."
Some heroes were not heroes at first; they often start as politicians. If they were heroes from the beginning, they would have long since become martyrs.
I am a historian; historians only know how to pursue the truth of history, without considering anything else.
The history department is a mysterious department; it can make the mad even madder, the stubborn even more stubborn, and the foolish even more foolish.
History is a box of words; bad people fear people speaking, but history speaks endlessly. Bad people truly have no way out.
There are failures, there are 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 method of thinking, "This is a good person," "That is a bad person."
Under the issue of loyalty and treachery, throughout history, how many people have stolen great names, and how many have been unjustly labeled with bad names?
Questioning the living with a question mark and putting a period on the dead; this way of guarding against people can avoid major mistakes!
This system extends directly to the so-called "Chinese Medicine Colleges," which have 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 medicine, 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"; the future of China still requires a revolution that aligns with heaven and humanity!
We did not expect that the 253,000 types of literature accumulated over two thousand five hundred years would have little positive use for us in the new world.
Let us not breathe the air of the old era anymore! Rather than being a filial son of the old era, how about being 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 characterized by a heavy, dull attitude, mediocre virtues, cautious speech, submission to adversity, contentment with fate, non-contention with the world, not meddling in others' affairs, not showing off, not creating enemies, not deviating from the path, and respecting the elderly... The personalities forged by these standards can be imagined.
In traditional China, there is no truth beneath the name; there is no right or wrong beneath seniority; there is no straight path beneath the teacher's way.
Thus, the beginning of the problem is the beginning of knowledge.
Drinking is originally a form of enjoyment, but the Chinese have overly ritualized it, making it unnatural.
Due to the strong family concept of the Chinese, its drawbacks are numerous, becoming an obstacle to China's progress. The comprehensive major drawbacks are: 1. The younger generation has no freedom. 2. The younger generation easily develops a reliance mentality, lacking a pioneering spirit. 3. Gender inequality. 4. Unfreedom in marriage. 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 the interests of one's own family, lacking public welfare 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.
Aside 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 multifaceted self.
We have been harmed by classics for two thousand years; "hollowness" and "grandiosity" are the 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's only great tradition over five thousand years is this one family, and of course, it is also a great deception over five thousand years.
The Chinese nation is very adept at "speaking of propriety" but not at "speaking of reason."
"Ritual" has turned into the way for people to "connect and communicate," turning into ceremonies, turning into customs, and even turning into false feelings and insincerity.
China's feudalism is actually pervasive; to sweep them away, one must first penetrate deeply to solve it. The tactic of penetrating deeply is: regardless of big or small topics, as long as one can make a big deal out of a big topic or a small topic, showing a "grand gesture," it is worth writing about.
The Chinese lack a decent standard for judging articles.
The basic issues of so-called articles are just two: 1. What do you want to express? 2. Are you expressing it well? These two questions are one; they must not 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 in ancient times. These factors no longer exist or have diminished in our modern society, so the meaning of "nostalgia" is 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; we no longer need literature of weakness and distress.
In terms of systems, democracy is still insufficient; it must be democratized in habits to be considered complete. To truly democratize, the disparity between big and small figures must be reduced.
Democracy itself is not only a system but also a belief, a lifestyle, a universal direction and goal.
Up and down, everyone has this freedom, which proves that this area has made democracy a belief, a way of life, and universal. If everyone can joke with each other, it proves that this area has a sense of humor and a democratic spirit.
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 officials 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 drama of democracy, one must use the path of democracy.
Governing does not require being high above to guide public opinion, but should align with public opinion, flowing downstream with the lowly; this is the first-rate approach.
Whether it is a country, a government, or an 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, move the capital, and abandon the common people; after the matter is settled, it will instead act with great vigor, dealing with people under the names of traitors, collaborators, and thieves; what kind of skill is this? When a region falls, it is the government that abandons the people, not the people who abandon the government. After the Huang Chao Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the concubines of Huang Chao were sent before the rulers, who wondered: "You are all girls from good families; why did you follow the bandits?" The representative girl replied: "We followed the bandits only to lose our virtue, but the state, with millions, could not refuse the bandits; how can we be blamed?" However, the rulers would not reflect on themselves; 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? Aside from trying "ancestral secret recipes," what else can they do?
Assassination is an unseemly political means; the only occasion it seems to be affirmed is when revolutionary parties rise against the ruling authorities to eliminate violence; otherwise, it is often looked down upon by people.
Consolidating Confucius's position is equivalent to consolidating the ruler's own position.
Hu Shi wrote to young friends over fifty years ago, pointing out: "Now some people say to you: 'Sacrifice your personal freedom to seek the freedom of the country!' I say to you: 'Fighting for your personal freedom is fighting for the country's freedom! Fighting for your own personality is fighting for the country's personality! A country of freedom and equality cannot be built by a group of slaves!'"
We must not forget that we are ultimately people who have been cramped on the same small island for many years; whatever kind of ruler there is, there will naturally be that kind of opposition. If the opposition lacks examples and vigilance, it easily falls 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 talking about 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 calculated in gains and losses is a lower form of love; further, any love that is jealous, possessive, life-or-death, full of tears and snot is not the correct love. The essence of love should be the greatest source of joy; everything else should take a back seat.
Everyone either pursues simple physical desires or indulges in unopen feelings; to resolve simple physical desires, they choose promiscuity; to relieve unopen feelings, they choose insomnia, martyrdom, or love 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, wearing masks and retreating underground. No one dares to reveal their true feelings; at most, they achieve secret communications and private loves, revealing only abnormality, perversion, self-indulgence, and false pretenses!
The traditional Chinese view of love has gone awry, and the most fundamental reason is that relationships between men and women do not rely on free love but on "the orders of parents and the words of matchmakers."
Between men and women, aside 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 fundamentally unwilling to guide them this way; they all impose their mothers' feelings onto their young hearts, not allowing love to run free in the fields of emotion—unless the horse is burdened with a lifelong commitment!
They always assume that the boy is her future spouse; they do not measure his intellect but gauge his wallet; the essence of love carries a heavy burden of life; who still dares to reveal true feelings?
A complete woman has not found a complete man; she merely mistakes a "servant" for a "hero."
Clearly, women's independence should not depend on their husbands' division of labor, but should rely on washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, and delivery services, transferring the burdens of housework to industrial civilization; this way, the household does not become a constraint on women, and women do not have to marry dogs and live off dogs; they can let their feelings run wild before marriage, choosing boyfriends who prioritize freedom over careers; husbands who value passion over money.
Reality is so pressing that marriage becomes a strategy.
Modern marriage should simply be a union of male and female love, not "obeying the orders of parents," nor "obeying the orders of children."
Today's girls like gentle-tempered men; they like men who lower themselves and beg for mercy, 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 delivery to the girls' dormitory, not afraid of the girls' "no," not afraid of hitting any number of nails!
I will never suffer for love again.
1. Constantly 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 lightly; feelings have long been numb. 6. Marry for merit, not for disaster. 7. After marriage, they are no longer friends. 8. Not too concerned about the past, nor too concerned about the future, living in the present. 9. Having vulgar actions but no vulgar thoughts.
1. Life should be about transformation rather than professionalization—great actors. 11. Those who are too stubborn find it difficult to get along with others and are not happy. 12. Extreme thoughts lead to moderate 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, and then your reputation will be good. 15. Between men and women, the fear of dragging things out; once dragged out, even a bit of feeling is doomed.
Truly enlightened and wise individuals, when enjoying life and seeking pleasure, never carry the erroneous thoughts of separating spirit from flesh to trouble themselves.
If there is no soulmate, I do not love people.
Change a brush every three months; love is like a toothbrush (or "women are like toothbrushes"), but seeking a breeze does not seek a flower that understands words.
To use 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 elegant ambiance, and when eating is enjoyable, can one be said to not waste this stomach and indulge in a feast. The matters between men and women should be the same. A rooster does not speak to a hen; pressing it down and pulling it 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 in this way can one not waste 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 driving force. (
Instructor Li told me his view of 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, if a woman must choose one-third, all women in the world would rather not be true women, not be good women, but want to be beautiful women. Women would rather be fake women, bad women, than not be beautiful.
Looking at that beast that has flown far away, I cannot help but drool; however, to say it again, 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 sensibility but no sensuality can become female writers; those with sensuality but no sensibility can become female stars; those with neither sensibility nor sensuality can become "European Eight"; those with both sensibility and sensuality—can such people exist?
A truly qualified woman is smart, gentle, delicate, 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 more modern new women are unworthy of love, 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 bit of "stingy" style, such as: 1. Having a huge taboo on sexual issues. 2. Excessive shyness and passivity. 3. Excessive pretense, fakeness, and lack of honesty. 4. Always defensive and suspicious, looking at men with "keeping them at a distance." 5. Too many denials and evasions.
1. Hostility and harm towards comparatively generous women. Frequently performing unkind acts, such as returning love letters, publicizing love letters, and burning love letters, are not uncommon.
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 women's mouths, we can always derive two conclusions: 1. She is always justified and never owes anyone; 2. Men are always unreasonable and owe her an apology. (From "Three Discussions on Women")
The words of women, even if you conduct a thousand qualitative analyses, contain only these two elements: one is nonsense; the other is bad talk.
I admire those men who can superficially listen to women's flowery words but remain unmoved in their hearts.
Women always take "feelings" as "evidence" because they have never studied what "evidence" is.
When women meet, they praise each other for being beautiful; if there is not even a one-thousandth chance of beauty, they will change to praise each other's coats; if the coat is indeed ugly, they will congratulate the other on buying it at a good price: — "You really know how to shop! Where did you buy it? I will go buy one too!"
Women believe in women only with one sentence, but unfortunately, this sentence is a lie. This lie is: "You are so beautiful!" The person saying this is clearly lying; however, the person hearing it knows it is a lie but insists on believing it. — Because that is the moment when women are least suspicious in their lives.
Just like the rose growing by the corner of the wall, it has bloomed again—a solitary bloom, its crimson hue 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 solitude.