A man without persistence will never make a good shaman or a good physician.

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.

The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.

A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present? If he reach the age of forty or fifty, and has not made himself heard of, then indeed he will not be worth being regarded with respect.

The superior person is in harmony, but does not follow the crowd. The lesser person follows the crowd, but is not in harmony.

A superior man in dealing with the world is not for anything or against anything. He follows righteousness as the standard.

The Master said, “If your conduct is determined solely by considerations of profit you will arouse great resentment.