It is not the failure of others to appreciate your abilities that should trouble you, but rather your failure to appreciate theirs.

One joy dispels a hundred cares.

The highest kind of man is the one who does before talking and practices what he professes.

If names are not correct, then language is not in accord with the truth of things. If language is not in accord with the truth of things, then affairs cannot be carried out successfully.

Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame. Guide them by virtue, keep them in line with the rites, and they will, besides having a sense of shame, reform themselves.

Good people strengthen themselves ceaselessly

Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator.