Random Thoughts (Excerpt)

Huang Yaomian

　　Predawn lamplight, bright as it is, can never outshine the majestic rising sun.

　　Diamond glitters but gives off no heat.

　　He who is given to bragging about his past achievements must have lost interest in his own future.

　　Firewood, while burning, never regrets having itself reduced to ashes.

　　More thinking beforehand, less after-the-event remorse.

　　A prejudiced mind keeps the voice of truth from entering the ear.

　　Modesty will win warm support; boastfulness will be cold shouldered.

　　A top makes no headway no matter how hard it spins.

　　The honor you have gained by going through fire and water may be lost amidst gay laughter at a joyous grand banquet graced by gorgeously dressed women. Can that which is lost in the midst of the gay laughter be regained by tears of regret?

　　Few promises and more contributions, rather than more promises and few contributions.

　　You are simple because you have no wants apart from dedicating your life to the welfare of the proletariat and the working people. You are complicated because you can defeat your enemy by seeing through one by one his plots, threats, lures and sex-traps.

　　Running away will inevitably result in the pursuit and attack of the enemy; it is disgraceful to be hit in the back by a bullet.

　　Showing jealously of other people’s abilities is clear proof of your own incompetence.

　　Ripples on a basin of water mean nothing at all to man, but are like wild waves over a boundless sea to ants.

　　Where is time gone? Some fool away their time in playing a game of womanizing; some trifle away their time in chit-chat amidst cigarette smoke. They don’t know that wasting time means wasting life.

　　Some whom I have known for a long time are strangers yet. Some with whom I am well acquainted have never become friends with me. Some have been friends of mine for a long time, but we still don’t really know each other. Some, nevertheless, are immediately found to be real comrades though we meet for the first time.

　　Centipedes, snakes and scorpions are venomous, but, when properly used, they cure disease by combating poison with poison, don’t they?

　　A nail will never be driven into a wall without repeated hammering from behind.

　　Things immature also have aspects worthy of our praise, because, though puerile, they embody the future.

　　Members of a symphony orchestra never feel left out in the cold when it is others’ turn to play their musical instruments. It is because a symphony orchestra is a whole.

　　A selfless man always thinks of handing out more happiness to others.

　　Old people should not rest on their laurels, nor should young people enjoy in advance their future happiness.

　　You often bother about how much you are getting from the people. Why not figure out how much you owe them?

　　I hate to be a calm lake which is limpid and shallow and indulge in admiring myself for being so clean. I would rather follow the mighty torrent and surge eastward along with mud, sand and rocks until I reach the sea.

　　Behold not only the straight and sturdy branches of a pine tree, but, more importantly, its roots deep in the soil.

　　You cannot make a cow move backward by pulling it by the tail, nor can you make it move forward by dragging it by the ear.

　　A cow is to be led by the nose.