There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute.

Be in harmony, yet be different.

The faults of a superior person are like the sun and moon. They have their faults, and everyone sees them; they change and everyone looks up to them.

Things have their roots and branches. Affairs have their beginnings and their ends. To know what is first and what is last will lead one near the Way.

We should not be too familiar with the lower orders or with women.

Lead the people with administrative injunctions and put them in their place with penal law, and they will avoid punishments but will be without a sense of shame. Lead them with excellence and put them in their place through roles and ritual practices, and in addition to developing a sense of shame, they will order themselves harmoniously

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