Desmond

Some Random Excerpts (Continuously Updated)#

Some fragments of text that I jotted down while reading in high school/college, not limited to any specific topic/work/author, purely based on emotional resonance/values alignment. However, more importantly, I hope these words can serve as a "reminder" for myself when I am lost/unstable. I believe that words have the power to pull a person out of a mental quagmire.

......

I have disappointed too many people, including the man who is irreplaceable to me. Over and over again, I tell myself not to think about the days when I quietly listened to him talk about various "off-topic" things, not to think about the ending of that dream. Even if I think about it, I can't go back, I can't reverse his disappointment in me, I will only sink deeper. Calm down, read a book when there is free time, don't think about those bad things, but focus on what can be done now, even if it's just one thing... Always deeply love the person beside you, even if you have disappointed them so much, you still have the right and ability to love someone, this is something you can always do... By persisting in these things, it is also a promise to him and to my past self.

......

By the way, some paragraphs were shared by the lovely classmates of Class 3, I would like to express my deep gratitude here.

When you reach the edge of a cliff, there is a silent abyss ahead, no, it's not even an abyss. An abyss can at least shatter your body, make you bleed, make you feel something real. That is not an abyss, there is nothing there. If you jump, there will be no sound or light, only emptiness.
Wherever people go, they can't help but feel nostalgic for the distant homeland behind them, because that is where their loved ones are, or at least their past. Time always washes away the days of the past, making them glitter and beckon us to look back.

• "My Heart Returns" by Han Shaogong

If there are things I haven't said, Temple of Earth, don't think that I have forgotten. I haven't forgotten anything, but some things are only suitable for keeping. They cannot be said or thought about, but they cannot be forgotten either. They cannot be turned into words, they cannot be transformed into words. Once they become words, they are no longer themselves. They are a hazy warmth and loneliness, a mature hope and despair. Their territory is only in the heart and the grave.
In the confusion of science, in the chaos of fate, one can only seek solace in one's own spirit. No matter what we believe in, it is a description and guidance of our own spirit.

• "Me and the Temple of Earth" by Shi Tiesheng

There are three fundamental dilemmas in life. First, we are born destined to be ourselves, destined to live among countless others, and unable to communicate completely with others. This means loneliness. Second, we are born with desires, and our ability to fulfill desires can never catch up with our desire. This is an eternal distance. Third, we are born not wanting to die, but we are born to move towards death. This means fear.

• "Talking to Myself" by Shi Tiesheng

When will the Chinese people truly treat all countries in the world, whether stronger or weaker than us, with an equal and open mind, full of national confidence and a humble willingness to learn from others' strengths, understanding how to maintain the essence of our nation while embracing foreign thoughts and cultures with an open mind? That is when our nation will truly be spiritually healthy and mature.

• "The Coordinates of Patriotism" by Zi Zhongyun

A mature person often realizes that there are fewer and fewer people to blame, and everyone has their own difficulties.

• "We Are Not Angels" by Yi Shu

When everyone is crying, it should be allowed for some people not to cry. When crying becomes a performance, it should be even more allowed for some people not to cry.
In this world, small bad things and strange things are hated by people, while big bad things and strange things are respected.

• Mo Yan

When a person dies, their real life becomes a story. Many things are the same, started by many people, but in the end, they become the story of one person.

• "A Village of One" by Liu Liangcheng

When expressing opinions to others, show respect and never say "you are wrong."

• Dale Carnegie

If you want to surpass others, you must first surpass yourself; if you want to judge others, you must first judge yourself; if you want to understand others, you must first understand yourself.

• "The Annals of Lü Buwei"

One advantage of a person's misfortune is that they can see who their true friends are.

• Honoré de Balzac

Reading is like panning for gold. Some people sift through the sand, read thousands of books, and only achieve a comfortable life; some people turn stones into gold, casually flip through a few pages, and become immensely wealthy.

• "Man and Eternity" by Zhou Guoping

Setting up various things in life is a unique characteristic of human beings, not only setting up animals but also setting up oneself.

• "A Lone and Unique Pig" by Wang Xiaobo

The so-called Chinese civilization is actually just a feast of human flesh arranged for the privileged. The so-called China is actually just the kitchen where this feast of human flesh is arranged. To sweep away these cannibals, overturn this feast, and destroy this kitchen is the mission of the youth of today.

• "Under the Lamp" by Lu Xun

When the intellectuals of a society flatter the powerful or become the lackeys of the powerful, that society has also degenerated.

• "Literature for Leisure and Literature for Help" by Wang Yuanhua

Dogmatism is the enemy of independent thinking, and its other enemy is hero worship.

• "On Independent Thinking" by Mao Dun

In life, it is nothing more than a alternation between waiting and enduring. Sometimes there is waiting in endurance, waiting in despair. Endurance is a form of self-rescue, even if self-rescue is impossible, it is at least a form of self-respect.

• "Thoughts on Life" by Zhou Guoping

We have gained material things but lost our spirit. We emphasize efficiency, but it only makes us busier. Everything around us is appreciating in value, but our lives are quietly depreciating.

• Zhu Deyong

Whether we can find it or not, as long as we set off, we will be covered in bruises. Therefore, success and confusion are the by-products of setting off, because you are delicate, because you are happy, it is destined to grow in carrying heavy loads.

• "Beijing, Beijing" by Feng Tang

Life is like this, you think you have escaped from one whirlpool, but another whirlpool is right under your feet. With a strong kick, you fall into it. So, there is no need to exert too much effort on life, it will take us where we need to go.

• "Farewell" by Long Yingtai

The lesson that humanity should learn from history is that humanity never learns from history.

• Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

A person can refuse anything, but absolutely cannot refuse maturity. Refusing maturity is actually avoiding problems and evading pain. The tendency to avoid problems and evade pain is the root cause of human psychological disorders.

• "The Road Less Traveled" by M. Scott Peck

It is the continuous accumulation of value judgments that creates our lives.
No matter who or when, people always have to search for romantic light around the dark clouds to live on.
Our general society can be described as an "open circuit," but there are still several "closed circuits" that exist side by side in this society. It sounds like a paradox, but it is not wrong to say that we maintain the principle of openness in this society by understanding and tolerating this closedness.
To put it bluntly, society itself is a bad thing. But no matter how bad it is, we (at least the vast majority of us) have to live in it - as honestly and uprightly as possible. The important truth lies in this.
No matter how bad that society originally was, no matter how scarce the room for improving society, we must constantly strengthen it, even if it's just a tiny bit. It is precisely this will, this strong will to endure the pain and persist in the openness of society, that can correctly activate our inherent closedness.
After more than half a century, many readers are still attracted to Fitzgerald's works. I think the biggest reason is not the "aesthetics of destruction," but the "conviction of salvation" that surpasses it.
Everyone in the world spends their whole life searching for something precious, but few can find it. Even if they are lucky enough to find it, that thing is often fatally damaged. However, we must continue to search. Because without doing so, the meaning of living no longer exists.
I think we should only read books that bite and sting us. The so-called book must be an axe that breaks the frozen sea within us.

• "A Tumultuous State of Mind" by Haruki Murakami

Before caring about the country, society, and others, you must first care for and love your own family.

• "Citizen's Handbook" by Lin Da

I prefer to say that we have encountered a child because of "God's arrangement" rather than saying that we have a child.
Don't hinder the child's energy accumulation process for no reason.

• "Raising a Good Citizen for the Country" by Zhang Lijun

Chinese people have always been a bit arrogant - unfortunately, there is no "personal arrogance," only "collective patriotic arrogance." This is the reason why cultural competition has failed and cannot be improved.
"Personal arrogance" means uniqueness, it is a declaration of war against mediocrity.
"Collective arrogance" and "patriotic arrogance" are a declaration of war against a minority of geniuses.

• "Hot Wind" ("Random Thoughts 38") by Lu Xun

First, they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I did not speak out because I was not a Catholic. Finally, they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

• "First They Came..." by Martin Niemöller

The writing about war by humans cannot always glorify the grandeur of war and its final victors, nor can it always be limited to the surface-level historical records of life and death struggles in war. Instead, it needs to shed light on the true positive and negative aspects hidden in human nature through the cruelty of war, the ruthlessness of war, and the extreme complexity of human relationships in war.

• "The Old Man and the Bridge" by Ernest Hemingway

Every child is a seed of a flower, it's just that everyone's flowering time is different. Some flowers will bloom brilliantly from the beginning, while others require a long wait. Don't be anxious when you see others blooming while your own seed shows no signs of growth. Believe that every flower has its own time to bloom. Care for your flower carefully, watch it grow slowly, and accompany it as it bathes in the sunlight and rain. This is also a kind of happiness. Believe in your child and patiently wait for their bloom. Perhaps your seed will never bloom because it is a towering tree!

• Unknown