Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it.

Knowing something is not as good as liking it. Liking something is not as good as rejoicing in it.

In language clarity is everything.

Do not unto another that you would hot have him do unto you. Thou needest this law alone. It is the foundation of all the rest.

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.

Cultivate the root; the leaves and branches will take care of themselves.

A gentleman is ashamed to let his words outrun his deeds.