The constant man loses not his virtue in misfortune. A torch may point towards the ground, but its flame will still point upwards.

Let us keep a firm grip upon our money, for without it the whole assembly of virtues are but as blades of grass.

Trees bend low with ripened fruit; clouds hang down with gentle rain; noble people bow graciously. This is the way of generous things.

Idleness is a great enemy to mankind. There is no friend like energy, for, if you cultivate that, it will never fail.

Those from whom we were born have long since departed, and those with whom we grew up exist only in memory. We, too, through the approach of death, become, as it were, trees growing on the sandy bank of a river.

The constant man loses not his virtue in misfortune. A torch may point towards the ground, but its flame will still point upwards.

A good man may fall, but he falls like a ball [and rebounds]; the ignoble man falls like a lump of clay.