When superiors are fond of showing their humanity, inferiors try to outstrip one another in their practice of it.

In dealing with the dead, if we treat them as if they were entirely dead, that would show a want of affection and should not be done; or, if we treat them as if they were entirely alive, that would show a want of wisdom and should not be done.

Love should start from people close to us, then be extended to other people, to strangers, and eventually to the world

Excessive (population) growth may reduce output per worker, repress levels of living for the masses and engender strife

Thought, unassisted by learning, is dangerous.

When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self.

The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue complete.