There are three things against which the wise man guards: lust when young, quarrels when strong, and covetousness when old.

The perfecting of one's self is the fundamental base of all progress and all moral development.

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

If either wealth or poverty are come by honesty, there is no shame.

I am not an originator but a transmitter.

Great as heaven and earth are, men still find some things in them with which to be dissatisfied. Thus it is that, were the superior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing in the world would be found able to embrace it, and were he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world would be found able to split it.

If what one has to say is not better than silence, then one should keep silent.