"Once upon a time there was a Chinese farmer whose horse ran away. And all the neighbors came around to commiserate that evening. “So sorry to hear your horse has run away. That’s too bad.” And he said, “Maybe.” The next day, the horse came back bringing seven wild horses with it, and everybody came around in the evening and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky! What a great turn of events. You’ve now got eight horses.” And he said, “Maybe.” The next day, his son tried to break one of these horses and ride it, and was thrown and broke his leg. And they all said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad!” And he said, “Maybe.” The following day the conscription officers came around to recruit people into the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. And all the people came around and said, “Isn’t that great!” And he said, “Maybe.” You see, that is the attitude of not thinking of things in terms of gain or loss, advantage or disadvantage—because you don’t really know. The fact that you might get a letter from a solicitor, I mean from a law office tomorrow, saying that some distant relative of yours had left you a million dollars might be something you would feel very, very happy about. But the disasters that it could lead to are unbelievable. Internal Revenue, to mention only one possibility! So you never really know whether something is fortune or misfortune. We only know the momentary changes as it alters our sense of hope about things."