Qin's Moon Quotes

"Those who know me share my sorrows. The world is changing all the time, but a faithful friend is hard to find." -Episode 15

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Episode (4?)

"Ghost Valley Sect's Vertical and Horizontal World focuses primarily on one word: Decision. Ruthless and absolute certainty means making a decision on what the most valuable and worthwhile thing to do is. You must recognize the limitations of your abilities, and make an effective judgment from the start, as well as redress and make use of disadvantageous results." -Qinsmoon

"You wanted to save both, but in the end you could save neither... ... ... If you are unable to understand the principles I told you today, you will fail again... As a successor of Ghost Valley, what you must quest for is the need to succeed, rather than being destined to fail."

"Even though some dreams are distant, they are not impossible to realize."

By God's grace, the chaos of a season has passed... Time to rebuild.

"Before a famous sword can be forged, countless failures would be experienced first." -Qinsmoon

"Saying sorry in a PR crisis involves knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it... And most people don't." -PR professional interviewed on perfect spin

I would advise my young colleagues, the composers of symphonies, to drop in sometimes at the kindergarten, too. It is there that it is decided whether there will be anybody to understand their works in twenty years' time.
Zoltan Kodaly

p. 126: That the economic crisis is the cause of everything? Everything will be set right as soon as the economy is in order? I do not think so. Penury may hamper development but wealth does not always promote it either. Money does not produce ideas. Anyhow, there would be sufficient money here if only it were always spent on what is needed. However, the most valuable things cannot be bought with money. The greatest trouble is not the emptiness of the purse but the emptiness of the soul. And of this we have got more than our share. (1929) -Kodaly

p. 127: We put up the fancy spires first. When we saw that the whole edifice was shaky, we set to building the walls. We have still to make a cellar. This has been the situation, particularly in our musical culture. If in 1875 instead of establishing the Academy of Music, we had laid the foundations for the teaching of singing in schools, today's musical culture would be greater and more general. (1941; 1957) -Kodaly

p. 46: Children's singing games allow a more profound insight than anything else into the primeval age of folk music. Singing connected with movements and action is a much more ancient, and, at the same time, more complex phenomenon than is a simple song. .... In the same way as the child's development repeats in brief the evolution of mankind, his forms of music represent a history of music; indeed they afford a glimpse into the prehistoric period of music. From the reiteration of the smallest motif, comprising but a couple of notes, we can observe all grades of musical development up to the average stage of the European folksong... Here the child's music often touches that of adults. (1951) -Kodaly

p. 196: Today there is much talk of overburdening the students. It is true that the musician finds burdensome the learning of subjects whose direct use in his career he cannot see. If he realized, however, how much easier it is to learn every music subject, and how much time is won if he first trains himself to be a quick and sure reader, he would not rest day or night until he had achieved this. To teach a child an instrument without first giving him preparatory training and without developing singing, reading and dictating to the highest level along with the playing is to build upon sand. (1953). -Kodaly

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No more damage to self. No more damage to soul. What's done is done, and if what you've lost was important, then go and make it back if you still have breath. Start afresh if you still have life.

Uncle Iroh is one of my favorite characters on Avatar: The Last Airbender. His role as a loving, long-suffering father figure to Zuko probably strikes a chord in those of us who sometimes wish we had such a guiding figure in our darkest moments.

Beyond that however, I realize that the scenes that to me, are most defining of him were those of his time in prison. His beloved nephew had betrayed him. He was mistreated, clothed in rags, and left in a damp, dark cell with nowhere to go. The jailer mocked him daily, calling him disgraceful and useless... Yet he never took any of it to heart. He never cursed or condemned himself. Instead he worked hard, trained his body tirelessly, and waited for the right chance to escape. He never told himself he was a washout, or that he couldn't achieve anything anymore.

"The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want." -Iroh

Fatherhood defines Iroh's relationships, but self-acceptance and love defines his character. This is a man who believes in himself and accepts his own limitations, and who gains a great depth of willpower as a result... and these traits are what he tries to teach a nephew who cannot accept himself, who lives in shame and self-condemnation.

"There are no perfect fathers. But a father will always love perfectly."

I think today we look at Uncle Iroh and think of his behavior as something close to the pinnacle of parenting- just the right combination of firmness and gentleness... [On a side note, "speaking the truth in love" is a commonly heard phrase in church... But I wonder whether its only reference is to speaking the truth with gentleness, or if it is not necessarily so...] The reality however, is that no parent is perfect. We can't communicate the lessons we want so dearly to impart to our children, and more often than not, they will refuse to listen... Beyond that, there are some lessons that only life can teach, truths and personal resolve that you can only attain to when you've hit rock bottom, when you've felt what it's like to break something priceless and irreplaceable with your own hands. Perhaps sometimes... it is not the place of those who love to teach, or to get frustrated when things don't work out... There are some things only the Holy Spirit can teach, or which can only be learned over the course of a lifetime... Sometimes all we can do is be there, ready to catch our children when they fall.

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What would I do if I hurt another person I loved, and found myself passing by them without acknowledgement, with nothing between us but an empty moment in time? I felt it again on Friday, the feeling that something was missing, that a connection had been lost for lack of attention or care... ... Damn. I wish that would make itself into something more poetic. Heh. But in any case, I guess all we can do at times is take such feelings in our stride and work to initiate a new connection. It should be a motivation to not repeat the mistake, rather than a constant source of self-recrimination... We can let go, but we shouldn't forget. If all you do is stare at it, it will consume you. If you try to forget what that emptiness is like, then you're also forgetting what it means to be full; the world slowly becomes a blur if you walk down that road...

Matisse quotes

“A young painter should realize that he does not have to invent everything, but that he should above all get things straight in his mind by reconciling the different points of view expressed in the beautiful works by which he is affected, and at the same time by directly questioning nature. After he has become acquainted with his means of expression, the painter should ask himself, ‘What do I want?’ and proceed in his researches, both simple and complex, to try to find it. If he can preserve his sincerity toward his deeper sentiment without trickery or without being too lenient with himself, his curiosity will not desert him and he will therefore have in his old age the same ardour for hard work and the necessity to learn that he had when young. What could be better!”

Matisse

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.
Henri Matisse

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.
Henri Matisse

Work cures everything.
Henri Matisse

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.
Henri Matisse

I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.
Henri Matisse

I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth when all the world is new to it.
Henri Matisse

Music is Action

Pedo-bait, cool music instruments and kawaii music... I don't know what K-ON is really about but I think it probably became a smash hit. The theme and content choices hit the dot exactly in terms of appeal. A point to remember.

It just occurred to me that all the climactic action scenes in movies would be nothing without great musical scores, and it's actually music that creates the great bulk of energy of thrilling sequences...

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"Man is accustomed to asserting himself; his clients believe in his competence; he can act naturally: he infallibly makes an impression. Woman... In business, in administrative work, she is precise, fussy, quick to show aggressiveness. As in her studies, she lacks ease, dash, audacity. In the effort to achieve she gets tense. Her activity is a succession of challenges and self-affirmations. This is the great defect that lack of assurance engenders: the subject cannot forget himself. He does not aim gallantly toward some goal: he seeks rather to make good in prescribed ways. In boldly setting out toward ends, one risks disappointments; but one also obtains unhoped-for results; caution condemns to mediocrity." -Simone de Beauvoir on the detrimental effects of stereotyping in educational settings on women in her time

"There isn't any fight on this earth that is determined by effort alone. Every challenge we face requires us not just to push ourselves physically, but to win a fight in our spirit and in our minds, to keep our confidence and our calmness in the face of troubling times.

There are two sides to believing: One where you grit your teeth and crawl through dark places, and another where you look at the sky, and know in your heart that you can fly." -Me... Will edit this someday so it gets less cheesy.

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What I did may not have been wrong... But it is undeniable that the way Wanyi suggested is ... better... Note to self: Think about this. Ask others about this and then write about it and remember it.

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Note to self: Overthinkingit.com

When you push your body too far, your body pushes back

"A stitch in time saves nine."

"He who hesitates is lost."

"The early bird catches the worm."

"Always be yourself... unless you suck."

"It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

http://grammar.about.com/od/60essays/a/selfrelianessay.htm

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

A good indignation brings out all one's powers.

A man is a method, a progressive arrangement; a selecting principle, gathering his like to him; wherever he goes.

A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise shall give him no peace.

A man is what he thinks about all day long.

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

All mankind love a lover.

As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.

Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.

Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.

Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well.

Every artist was first an amateur.


Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.

Every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults.

Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.

Every mind must make its choice between truth and repose. It cannot have both.

Every wall is a door.

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.

Fine manners need the support of fine manners in others.

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.

Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.

God enters by a private door into every individual.

Happy is the hearing man; unhappy the speaking man.

In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries.

Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste.

Men are what their mothers made them.

Money often costs too much.

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.

One must be an inventor to read well. There is then creative reading as well as creative writing.

Our best thoughts come from others.

Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.

People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.


The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.

To be great is to be misunderstood.

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.

Use what language you will, you can never say anything but what you are.

We are always getting ready to live but never living.

We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.

What you are comes to you.

What we seek we shall find; what we flee from flees from us.

Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying.


Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.

Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words.

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson/

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

When you strike at a king, you must kill him.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

The best effect of fine persons is felt after we have left their presence.

Let not a man guard his dignity, but let his dignity guard him.

The peril of every fine faculty is the delight of playing with it for pride. Talent is commonly developed at the expense of character, and the greater it grows, the more is the mischief. Talent is mistaken for genius, a dogma or system for truth, ambition for greatest, ingenuity for poetry, sensuality for art.

The world belongs to the energetic.

If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me.

A friend is one before whom I may think aloud.

Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment.

http://grammar.about.com/od/60essays/a/selfrelianessay.htm

What a difference, a day makes....

...Twenty four, little hours...

"Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The world belongs to the energetic." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Each day is a precious gift. Find time every day to celebrate.


"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. "- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Also, sleep early, eat well, and exercise regularly.

Yours faithfully,

"He's that rare combination of up-to-something and good-for-nothing." - The Simpsons

"There are many ways to fry an egg. There's more than one way to skin a cat. For the people who like their eggs with skinned cat, the possibilities are limitless." -Me (Wonder if it's funny though.)

"Snape from Harry Potter fits the bill pretty well. Throughout books 1-6 and most of book 7, seemingly everybody except Dumbledore and Voldemort thinks that Snape is a spy for the other side. He does a damn good job of keeping it that way, especially after the ending of book 6.

* Its hard to say without giving spoilers, but in the end it turns out that despite his glaring obvious other character faults, there is hardly a more faithful person imaginable than Snape, both in love and friendship. Despite being rejected by Harry's mother Lily, he stays true to her until the very end and never seemed to have even looked at another woman (even if he himself made her snap and reject him by calling her a mudblood, something he never forgave himself for). He also stays faithful to unbelievable degrees to Dumbledore. "- TV Tropes, Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.

Not ever looking at another woman. Try imagining that. Seriously.

Level Up

It takes a while to learn how to stop sweating the small stuff.

It'll probably take much longer to know how not to get overwhelmed when the things that matter to you get threatened.


I feel like I'm finally ready to be more mature, without carrying forward any hidden resentments or emotional baggage.

Awesome.


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Leveling up in World of Warcraft: Kill monsters. Pick stuff up. Return stuff to owners. Rinse and repeat.

Leveling up in Anime: Option 1- Get beaten down by your current nemesis. Retreat to a secluded forest/alternate dimension to learn a new ultimate technique, as well as to fan the flames of your manly soul.

Option 2- Engage in a climactic battle with your current nemesis. Get beaten until you are near death, then have a sudden flashback about all the precious people in your life. As your manly soul heats up with burning emotions, go all in on a desperation attack that makes you lose consciousness. Hopefully, this will be the point where your untapped hidden potential pours forth and you disappear in a ball of blinding light. Emerge out of said ball of light with new branches in your tech, higher stats, and a cool new outfit and hairdo.

Leveling up in American Action Movies starring Americans: Leveling up is not required. The innate power provided by your genetic material is more than enough to overcome any obstacle. Instead, get into a fight with big explosions. As the adrenaline pumps through your veins, your manly muscles thicken and your tendency to say cool one-liners will increase.


Leveling up in real life: Screw shit up. Regret it. Reflect. Forgive yourself. Seek forgiveness. Move on.




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Today I and Wanyi heard a really convincing sermon about the need to remove all kinds of swearing from our language and conversations.

Which is to say, everything from F*** down to OMG, ZOMG, and 'freakin' is off limits.

Wonderful. Time to get cracking.

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“The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them” -Stephen King

“The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings - words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out.” -Stephen King

“Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.” -Stephen King

“But what is the good of friendship if one cannot say exactly what one means? Anybody can say charming things and try to please and to flatter, but a true friend always says unpleasant things, and does not mind giving pain. Indeed, if he is a really true friend he prefers it, for he knows that then he is doing good.” -Oscar Wilde


“True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable.” -David Tyson Gentry

"The friendship that can cease has never been real." -St. Jerome

Hopefuls

"In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength." -General Iroh, Avatar: The Last Airbender

"I must learn to love the fool in me--the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries." -Theodore Isaac Rubin

“When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God.” - Charles L. Allen

"May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy and enough money to buy gifts!" -Anonymous

“When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always be worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better.” -Anonymous


Oftentimes, the best things in life come easy.

Sometimes, you have to lose them in order to really understand how precious they are.

But hopefully, every time, you will slap yourself awake in time to go back after them; catch them if you can.

FORWARD CHARGE

Knights!

Those of you seeking honor,

engrave this in your hearts:

Your sword exists for the sake of the weak!

Dye the shield you hold deep with courage,

and your sword with songs of your deeds,

and face your enemy, holding the spirit of chivalry in your hearts!

-Taken from the manga, 'Knights!'

Two C's

"The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson."– Tom Bodett

The above quote is something really cool that I found on my friend's blog/tumbler/tumblr. It's very witty, and very true.

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I'm not a... particularly accomplished person, not even in my self-professed field of gaming. But even though I don't have quite as many accomplishments as I'd like, I think I still have a healthy level of self-confidence in myself. I always think to myself that I'll be able to do anything I put my mind to.

While it's entirely likely that this is simply baseless overconfidence fueled by an innate tendency to build castles in the sky, lately I've been wondering if the cause lies somewhere else.

I don't have much empirical evidence to back this up, but I guess I want to put a lot it down to the fact that my parents had very high hopes for me when I was young; they had a strong sense of confidence in my potential, and today, my Mom is still quite vocal in this despite my lack of material success in most regards.

I'm not going to take anymore time to evaluate the accuracy of their beliefs, though I am grateful for my Mom's continuing support. I guess I'd just like to throw out into the open this idea, that we give children an innate sense of confidence simply by virtue of our wholehearted belief in them, that is expressed in our body language as well as every small action or gesture we perform.

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When you finally find the guts to try to look someone in the eye and connect with him/her... When you do that, you'll find a whole new set of truths and a whole new set of lies. You'll write a whole new list of 'shoulds' and a whole new list of 'should nots'. You will find new strength and new weakness.

We learn humility, and then somewhere along the line we learn false humility. We shed tears, then we learn to shed crocodile tears. We grasp sincerity, but unnoticeably, it becomes insincerity. We learn to see differences between two extremes, but while struggling between being insincere and desiring to be more than that, we find ourselves lost somewhere in the middle, very much unaware sometimes of where we stand and where we are going, unless someone is there to point things out to us.

At times I wonder if its worth it to go through all this mashing up of the rules, but at the end of the day it's always clear that being able to connect with someone is something to look forward to, be it through conversation, performance, or just spending time together. Yet, even if we reached that point, would we only find more obstacles after? It's hard to maintain sincerity in any sort of relationship or commitment, especially when we're feeling emotionally drained or physically worn out.


Lately, I've found myself slowly becoming more unwilling to accept criticism when it comes to Lindy, be it from my partner, my instructor, or my friends. Though it remains important to me, my commitment to improving seems to be getting replaced with... well, self-satisfaction, to put it bluntly. I'm not going to get into details, but I guess, if you're reading this, that I'll try to be more open to honest feedback from now on. It would really be helpful if you guys can give me some criticisms regarding how I can improve for real.

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Badass Creeds

This is from the Dark Tower by Stephen King. I don't follow the series, but these few lines stand out all on their own:

The Gunslinger's Creed:

I do not aim with my hand;
He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I aim with my eye.
I do not shoot with my hand;
He who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my mind.
I do not kill with my gun;
He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my heart.

People have said many things about freedom.

"The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage." -Thucydides

"He who is brave is free." -Seneca

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes." -Mahatma Gandhi

"Man is free at the moment he wishes to be." -Voltaire

Most of these people are historical personalities whom we acknowledge as great thinkers. But my most favorite quote of all comes from an anime.

"Freedom doesn't mean being able to fly anywhere you choose. It means having a home to fly back to."

-Taken from Gensomaden Sayuiki, by Kazuya Minekura

Give it time, give it space, be still for a spell

This was written on Alex's blog. I found it really poignant, and so I decided to copy it onto mine, haha.

Had to have this written down somewhere...

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs:
   1. Respect for self
   2. Respect for others
   3. Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Sometimes silence is the best answer... I remember an episode of Scrubs, where Carla/Elliot and Turk/J.D. realized that they'd drifted from each other, and that they had to take some time to reconnect.

But perhaps in this situation, the best thing I can do is to keep silent and wait till it's time to reconnect again.

But the thing that has come to mind in the past few days, is that we should always be grateful that we have people who bother to listen to us at all, and not give a second indignant thought to strangers, whose ears our words fall deaf upon.

Try to hide your hand, forget how to feel

Yep, my life's going in reverse order. Today, after watching the extremely impacting, black-humored, and scathing commentary "A Love to Share" on polygamy, Mych drew up a draft for a living conditions agreement for my future polygamous arrangement. It was a bad deal though, so I didn't sign. Lol. Min started to lose her mind as the day went by and as her hunger and tiredness got worse.

I went for takeaway sushi with Mych and Daph for the 3rd time this week, and when I got home, I found sushi in the fridge that my brother had bought. Btw, my "feverishly hot" top friend, don't be so shocked. Nothing's going to happen tomorrow besides me finding out the hidden power relations in the QnM. Not that I want anything to happen, either. Haha.

"I love you from the bottom of my heart." What does that sentence even mean?

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Songs with gambling metaphors (Poker Face, You Know My Name) are awesome.

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"At the heart of poetry is a secret." That's a quote that my Creative Writing teacher mentioned in class. While it's true that some poems are much more straightforward and uncomplicated than others, I guess I should remember that sincerity is much more poignant from a person who is reserved, and that frankness is more impactful from a person who is indirect. It's important to maintain one's dignity and keep precious secrets close to one's heart; to do otherwise might amount to shamelessness (though this isn't the same thing as wearing one's heart on one's sleeve).

The presumptuous and fanciful attitude I took last week towards writing class preparation cost me my sleep, as well as any chance of doing anything decent. Only in retrospect could I realize that such a shameless approach would never leave (good) impressions on anyone. It's full steam ahead from now on.

Unread readings are piling up, too, the current count being 3. It isn't even as if the readings are heavy, or that I have a heavy workload. Gotta get my game face back on.