1. Literature created a romantic dream for me; literature taught me to find and amplify my own happiness; literature helped me elevate myself from the garbage heap to poetic beauty; literature gave me the courage and strength to overcome difficulties and even disasters. Finally, after I survived this period from illusion to reality, I slowly realized how foolish I had been.
—Chi Li, "Standing"2. I hope my daughter can first understand the meaning of life from real, unadulterated life. If she gradually understands that food and clothing are important, thrift is a virtue, tranquility is magnanimity, tolerance is true love, and knowledge is the best, then what subject in the world can't she get an A in?
3. There is a kind of spring that cannot be waited for. This is the spring of life. The spring of life often has nothing to do with age, but is simply an awakening. Such an awakening is like a wild rose on a fence in a remote village, its flowers blooming profusely, yet its imagery is only light, simplicity, honesty, and tranquility.
4. In poor times, the hardship is in the stomach; in good times, the hardship is in the heart.
5. Anything can become a person's source of pride, as long as you are good at being proud.
6. A good life is not merely material, but also spiritual. A good life is a shell, which must be filled with a soul. Where does this soul come from? It comes from reading, cultivation, and wisdom; it comes from tranquility, love, and relaxation; it comes from being free from anxiety, vanity, and greed; it comes from knowing how to cherish, respect others, and maintain health.
7. Nothing is eternal except time. And time is not in our hands; none of us can grasp it. It hides in the embrace of the universe, toying with the earth like a wealthy person. Perhaps we are striving to taste the finer things in life, but time suddenly crushes the earth.
8. In seasons with fragrant flowers, don't miss the fragrant flowers; when friendship arrives, don't miss the friendship; in moments of loneliness, enjoy solitude; on nights with a bright moon and gentle breeze, please don't forget to take a walk.
9. There are no lowly jobs, only lowly people.
10. Nostalgia is always a toxic emotion. It offers no benefit other than escaping reality. The good times belong to the past. Now, do what you should do.
11. Bad children are true villains, good children are hypocrites.
12. If you frequently make mistakes, or rather, are always embroiled in mistakes, some of those mistakes can be devastating.
13. Cultivation is a process of happiness; happiness and suffering are synonyms. If you cannot experience suffering, you cannot attain happiness; if you do not know what suffering is, you will not know what happiness is. For personal experience, suffering is happiness, and happiness is suffering.
14. In the morning, the sun rises, and people come out, all sorts of people, heading to their respective destinations, their expressions unreadable; at dusk, the sun sinks into the city's buildings, and people, again all sorts of people, rush off in different directions, their expressions, besides a layer of dust and weariness, still unreadable. If you look at the masses in this abstract way, you can only feel that life is utterly boring and mediocre.
15. This is life. No matter how much misfortune and sorrow lies within, the surface remains unchanged. Like the Yangtze River, the whirlpools are all in the deep water, while the surface is merely calm.
16. Fragments of life
, like fish scales, are scattered in the hidden corners of history and reality, and in the roadside grass, everywhere shimmering with captivating light. 17. Women who are too attractive to men easily arouse jealousy among their own kind. This jealousy is innate, instinctive, private, animalistic, shameful, and something they refuse to admit. They will always find another high-sounding reason to attack her, even if it's their own sister.
18. The depth of affection is not related to the amount of money, but the amount of money can measure the depth of affection. Money is vulgar, but it is ultimately the only relatively scientific standard of value in this world.
19. A woman sits gracefully amidst the brilliance and clamor of a sea of people. The moonlight falls quietly on the abstract and ethereal realm. With two fingers like flower stems, she holds a cigarette, quietly and casually puffing away. In the blink of an eye, it's the end of time. Life has passed, flowers have fallen, and water has flowed.
20. Love is a woman's lifelong prison.
21. A woman has two lives: one dies in divorce, the other is born from divorce.
22. If life is likened to the artistic conception of creation, then reading is like sunshine.
23. I like a peaceful life. Strictly speaking, I feel I've always been a wanderer outside the world of martial arts. Because I started out as a lone wolf, and I still am now.
24. That's just how the world is. Death happens often, but the living happen even more often. Regardless of whether the parents conceived the child out of love, and regardless of how despicable and shameless those parents become in the future, the children are always pure, lovely, and great!
25. Only life is the most unreasonable; you have to live it, whether you want to or not. People live their lives, and inevitably there are moments or two when, for reasons unknown, their mouths become bitter, their hearts filled with unease, and there is no sense of despair.
26. Our lives refuse to be quiet, orderly, healthy, gentle, or reasonable; they are always filled with sophistry and the survival of the fittest. Our lives constantly tear at and split our hearts, leaving us to gaze upon our tranquil ideals with sorrow and inner turmoil.
27. A woman cannot blossom on her own; a good man must be present in her life.
28. Literature is a disease; once contracted, it is difficult to cure.
29. My life, my youth, my smile, my dreams, burn only for you, literature!
30. My ideal way of life is like that of a flower: naturally blooming, others can admire and appreciate you, but you don't have to socialize with anyone.
31. Time is like clothing; with repeated washing and changing, it unknowingly becomes too small.
32. If you truly want to do something, then do it! Even if it's fraught with difficulties; happiness is willingness. Life cannot withstand depletion; few can live to be a hundred.
33. The purpose of life is to create something meaningful. If you open your mouth but can't laugh, then it's meaningless.
34. Handle complex matters simply; the shortest distance between two points is...complexity is just a fog; with sunlight, it dissipates.
35. I have no demands on my child. If a child's blossoming requires fertile soil, I'd rather decay at her roots.
36. The most terrifying thing for a life is not the moment it suffers, but rather, the social changes that soon prove that the suffering you experienced was a completely insignificant joke.
37. Money doesn't express love, but those who love you will certainly express it with money.
38. A person's dignity and respect come from personal struggle. —Chi Li, "Standing"
39. It's best to learn from mistakes early in life. The earlier you learn, the easier it is to recover. —From "Standing"
40. There are three realms of life, which can be described with a Zen-like saying: "Seeing mountains as mountains, seeing water as water; seeing mountains not as mountains, seeing water not as water; seeing mountains as mountains again, seeing water as water again.
" —Chi Li, "Three Realms of Life"
41. Allow me to become dance
Become a feather
Become the simplest grain of sand
Become me
—Chi Li, "Becoming Me"
42. Upon reaching adulthood, one should promptly learn more, more complex and wiser knowledge, which is inherent in life itself. If a person can treat playing games, tasting wine and tea, and making friends as important matters, with solemnity and elegance, understanding everything thoroughly and finding profound enjoyment, then what in the world could possibly trouble their life? If she gradually understands that food and clothing are important matters, thrift is a virtue, tranquility is magnanimity, tolerance is true love, and knowledge is the best, then what subject in the world can't she get an A in? Isn't a lifetime of happiness and joy constantly descending upon her body and mind?
43. I hope my daughter can first understand the meaning of life from the realities of life. She should understand that respecting life is the greatest thing in the world, and that learning professional knowledge is actually included in respecting life; they are not contradictory to enjoying life.
—Chi Li, "Standing"
44. I shared my experiences with my child: Life inevitably involves many things we cannot help but do. At certain moments, in order to maintain their dignity and decency, a person must overcome things they despise. —Chi Li, *Standing*
45. Textbook education is merely the teaching of simple knowledge with universal significance. What is needed are various knowledge and abilities that complement one's own personality. Let children naturally acquire the growth experiences and lessons they should have at each stage of their lives; forcing growth at any stage is harmful. Most parents seem unable to break free from popular educational concepts and models. The power of trends is too strong; almost everyone is swept along by them, involuntarily following them.
46. There's no need for my child to become a great person. I neither demand nor expect my child to become a great person. Just continue like this, be yourself. Continue like this, choose goals you like, smoothly reach those goals, and feel happy throughout the process—that's enough, my child.
47. I rejoice in my own mutability. I rejoice in the proliferation of new impressions and new ideas like wild grass. The more I negate and change, the more vibrant the essence of my life feels. My gratitude lies here: life is finite, but it can be squandered infinitely. Every act of extravagance is a fission, a massive energy transformation, even something so trivial it brings tears of joy. In short, all the beautiful moments in the world are at your behest. So what perfect story do I need in my life? What numbers do I need to illustrate the richness or poverty of my life? I once read a beautiful Gypsy song: Time is for wandering, the body for pleasure, life for forgetting, the soul for singing. My song has only one line: Life is for extravagance. This line can be repeated endlessly.
—Chi Li, "Enduring Until Drops Become Pearls"
48. What ideals or fame other artists pursue, what form their works take—I may dislike them, offer academic critiques, or simply ignore them and walk away. However, I should have a benevolent respect. This doesn't mean respecting works and styles I dislike, but rather respecting people, respecting their right to choose, and respecting the universality of humanity.
—Chi Li, *Enduring Until Drops Form Pearls*
49. Good things often possess a certain grandeur; they move people's hearts in this way. A thought struck me: the most important thing in the world is people! I must admit before everything else: people's ideas, preferences, interests, and ideals are incommensurable!
—Chi Li, *Enduring Until Drops Form Pearls*
50. What is a woman's greatest misfortune? It is having a period of adolescence where her body is radiant, but her mind is a complete mess.
51. Life is short, and so is one's energy; doing one thing well is truly difficult. If you spend your whole life doing one thing well, that's enough. Countless intelligent people in the world fail to do anything well in their lives.
52. "Will you tell me when I grow up?"
"No, you will understand naturally." He thought, child, you will face everything in life, including ugliness.
—Chi Li, *Troubled Life*
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