A superior man may be made to go to the well, but he cannot be made to go down into it. He may be imposed upon, but he cannot be fooled.

When a man comes to me, I accept him at his best, not at his worst. Why make so much ado? When a man washes his hands before paying a visit, and you receive him in that clean state, you do not thereby stand surety for his always having been clean in the past.

Sincerity is the end and beginning of things; without sincerity there would be nothing.

To see and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of wickedness.

A picture is poem without words.

The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others, and does not accentuate the bad. The inferior does.

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star.