If one should desire to know whether a kingdom is well governed, if its morals are good or bad, the quality of its music will furnish the answer.

From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides.

If language is not rectified, words do not correspond to meaning, and if words do not correspond to meaning, our deeds cannot be accomplished.

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

Expect much from yourself and little from others and you will avoid incurring resentments

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

If a man is not good, what has he to do with the rules of propriety? If he is not good, what has he to do with music?