Under the shadow of swords, any plan is good.
Even the most innocent person, when cornered, is capable of a heartless crime.
No one is immune from either taking the wrong action or not taking action at all, but the sense that something is completely out of a person's control is stronger in China.
Some people in China don't look at freedom of speech as an abstract ideal, but more as a means to an end.
In China, your freedom is always limited, but this limitation applies to almost everyone. If someone does injustice to you, though, you have to find a way to avenge yourself - even by illegal measures. In a sense, injustice is more personal. This idea has always been in Chinese history. I think we read about freedom of speech, or lack of freedom of speech, in China so often. But I don't think people here in America think about how justice, or the idea of justice, is so important in a Chinese setting. It's probably more important than freedom of speech in the Chinese mindset at this moment.
If I didn't self-censor, I would be in jail, and then I wouldn't be effective at all.
There is a certain amount of politeness here in America, which is probably more than just politeness.
Since you are an integral part of a social system, let every act of yours contribute to the harmonization of social life. Any action that is not related directly or remotely to this social aim disturbs your life, and destroys your unity.
Ideas are commodity. Execution of them is not.
Well sir, I may not be a for-real cowboy. . . But I am one hell of a stud!
I was interested in the idea of succession - showing a father and a son both in their own time and drawing a contrast