Thoughts in Bonsai: Two Hundred Thirteen

One. Marriage destroys wisdom.

Two. Not love, but friendship.
Not romance, but peace.

Three. However fast you run, nothing happens before its time.
However hard you try, if it's not in your fate, it won't be.

Four. When friendship enters love, love deepens.
When love enters friendship, friendship grows shallow.

Five. Everyone falls in love;
only those get caught
who truly care.

Six. Some people are like termites.

Termites devour
the books we need.
Busybodies devour
the time we need.

Seven. Here it's the poor who are forbidden, not poverty.

Eight. In life...
those who come first
leave and go away;
those who come last
become our burden to bear.

Nine. Far more terrible than the body's lust is the mind's licentiousness.

Ten. People don't remember the officer,
people remember the human being.

Eleven. If you want immortality,
learn to be fearless.
If you want to survive,
learn to be afraid.

Twelve. My own feelings have no value to me.
How then can I value yours?

Thirteen. Humans are strange creatures—they hurt you precisely when they love you.

Fourteen. "How are you?"
"I ask myself the same question..."

Fifteen. What we once suffered for not being able to do,
we later suffer for being able to do.

Sixteen. I often think
everything I've done in life,
everything that's happened in my life,
has been waste...
utterly shameful waste!

Seventeen. "Why are you crying?"
"For what I received from you. And for what I didn't receive from you."

Eighteen. I don't love anyone.
I don't hate anyone either.
But I am irritated by some people.

Nineteen. It's very difficult to talk with someone
who picks apart every word you say.

Twenty. I have seen between you and your husband that happiness
which was supposed to be ours.