Blogs (on Chinese)

Since a repetition of the same life from its beginning is not to be expected, the next thing most like living one’s life over again seems to be a recollection of that life, and to make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in writing. But this may be read or not as any one pleases.

I desire with all humility to acknowledge that, in fact, I owe the happiness of my past life to the kind providence of God. It is good to be diligent, disciplined, and reflective, but it is also God willing to lead me to the means I used and gave them success. Thus, the complexion of my future fortune is being known to Him only in whose power it is to bless to us even our afflictions.

But, on the whole, tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it; as those who aim at perfect writing by imitating engraved copies, tho’ they never reach the wish’d-for excellence of those copies, their hand is mended by the endeavor, and is tolerable while it continues fair and legible.

—— Benjamin Franklin

I also want to pat him on the shoulder and tell him that my five years college have quietly slipped away in the blink of an eye. However, from now on, you got to have a plan for your life, because there may not be so many five-year spans in your life. Every step is a crossroads, worthy of careful choice and risk assessment.

Yet what makes life truly life is that sometimes, the way we take each step is guided by fate and destiny. Strive to be both bold and wise, accepting both gains and losses with a smile!

We can spend a lifetime crafting a pround academic identity, yet we must also accept the odds that no one cares the issue to which we dedicate our life — except for ourselves and a few peers. Humanity is nothing but a speck of dust in the Universe; nevertheless, there will always be gratifying and touching moments under the Sun: curiosity and scientific exploration has propelled a civilization far forward.

Stripping out of worldly distractions, the quality of a paper, I guess, should always be judged by the paper itself. For when future researchers do not need to always replicate past work but instead find out a clear path offered by the previous paper, science will continue to drive the progress of civilization.

At that time, I had just finished reading the biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Guofan Zeng. The aspirations and principles they set in their lives had a profound spiritual impact on me. But, I also understood that my actual practice in life fell far short of what I ambitiously wrote down or passionately expressed.

Forgive my vanity; it is only by basking in the light of these two great men that I dare to put pen to the paper, to clarify my own aspirations and principles, which I am willing to use as a source of motivation.