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Parents always make their worst mistakes with the oldest children. That’s when parents know the least and care the most, so they’re more likely to be wrong and also more likely to insist that they’re right.”
The things I told you just now aren’t because I despair. I said all that because these things are possible. And because they’re possible we have to think of them so they don’t surprise us later. We have to think of them so that if the worst does come, we’ll already know how to live in that universe.”
The wise are not wise because they make no mistakes. They are wise because they correct their mistakes as soon as they recognize them.”
to stop a human being from doing something, you must find a way to make the person stop wanting to do it.
I want to call back the blackberry flowers that have fallen though pear blossoms remain The poet Li Qing-jao knew the pain of regretting words that have already fallen from our lips and can never be called back. But she was wise enough to remember that even though those words are gone, there are still new words waiting to be said, like the pear blossoms.
When you have wisdom that another person knows that he needs, you give it freely. But when the other person doesn’t yet know that he needs your wisdom, you keep it to yourself. Food only looks good to a hungry man.
he was telling her what goodness was. To want other people to grow. To want other people to have all the good things that you have. And to spare them the bad things if you can. That was goodness.
