The Three Armies can be deprived of their commanding officer, but even a common man cannot be deprived of his purpose.

The superior man is easy to serve, but difficult to please ... The inferior man is difficult to serve, but easy to please.

It is not the failure of others to appreciate your abilities that should trouble you, but rather your failure to appreciate theirs.

The superior person is calm and composed; the lesser person is continuously worried and distressed.

Man is born for uprightness. If a man lose his uprightness and yet live, his escape from death is mere good fortune.

If a man keeps cherishing his old knowledge so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of others.

What is God-given is called nature; to follow nature is called Tao (the Way); to cultivate the way is called culture. Before joy, anger, sadness and happiness are expressed, they are called the inner self; when they are expressed to the proper degree, they are called harmony. The inner self is the correct foundation of the world, and the harmony is the illustrious Way. When a man has achieved the inner self and harmony, the heaven and earth are orderly and the myriad of things are nourished and grow thereby.