The Master said, The case is like that of someone raising a mound. If he stops working, the fact that it perhaps needed only one more basketful makes no difference; I stay where I am. Whereas even if he has not got beyond leveling the ground, but is still at work, the fact that he has only tilted one basketful of earth makes no difference. I go to help him.

The virtuous will be sure to speak uprightly; but those whose speech is upright may not be virtuous.

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

Study the past, if you would divine the future.

There are three things to beware of through life: when a man is young, let him beware of his appetites; when he is middle-aged, of his passions; and when old, of covetousness, especially.

Never hesitate to ask a lesser person.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.