Let every man consider virtue as what devolves on himself. He may not yield the performance of it even to his teacher.

Clever talk can confound the workings of virtue, just as small impatiences can confound great projects.

Unify your attention. Do not listen with your ears, but with your mind. Do not listen with your mind but with your essence.

If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything.

Be faithful and true of word; let thy walk be plain and lowly: thou wilt get on, though in savage land. If thy words be not faithful and true, thy walk plain and lowly, wilt thou get on, though in thine own home? Standing, see these words ranged before thee; driving, see them written upon the yoke. Then thou wilt get on.

Never hesitate to ask a lesser person.

Big head, target for enemy; big heart, target for friend.