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“The devil is a gentleman in disguise, Bessie.”
― Lies a River Deep
― Lies a River Deep
“There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”
― A Room of One’s Own
― A Room of One’s Own
“But,instead of what our imagination makes us suppose and which we worthless try to discover,life gives us something that we could hardly imagine.”
―
―
“If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives.”
― The Ersatz Elevator
― The Ersatz Elevator
“Startled, he tried to comfort him. But Father said slowly, "I ask myself whether I am afraid of death. I don't think I am. My life as it is now is worse. And it looks as if there is not going to be any ending. Sometimes I feel weak: I stand by Tranquillity River and think, Just one leap and I can get it over with. Then I tell myself I must not. If I die without being cleared, there will be no end of trouble for all of you… I have been thinking a lot lately. I had a hard childhood, and society was full of injustice. It was for a fair society that I joined the Communists. I've tried my best through the years. But what good has it done for the people? As for myself, why is it that in the end I have come to be the ruin of my family? People who believe in retribution say that to end badly you must have something on your conscience. I have been thinking hard about the things I've done in my life. I have given orders to execute some people…"
Father went on to tell Jin-ming about the death sentences he had signed, the names and stories of the e-ba ('ferocious despots') in the land reform in Chaoyang, and the bandit chiefs in Yibin.
"But these people had done so much evil that God himself would have had them killed.
What, then, have I done wrong to deserve all this?"
After a long pause, Father said, "If I die like this, don't believe in the Communist Party anymore.”
― Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Father went on to tell Jin-ming about the death sentences he had signed, the names and stories of the e-ba ('ferocious despots') in the land reform in Chaoyang, and the bandit chiefs in Yibin.
"But these people had done so much evil that God himself would have had them killed.
What, then, have I done wrong to deserve all this?"
After a long pause, Father said, "If I die like this, don't believe in the Communist Party anymore.”
― Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Catina’s 2025 Year in Books
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