If I hold up one corner of a square and the student cannot workout the other three for himself, I won't go any further.

There are three things which the superior man guards against. In youth ... lust. When he is strong ... quarrelsomeness. When he is old ... covetousness.

I will not be concerned at other men's not knowing me;I will be concerned at my own want of ability.

The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground.

Thought, unassisted by learning, is dangerous.

He who rules by moral force is like the pole star, which remains in place while all the lesser stars do homage to it.

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