The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.

In the Book of Poetry there are three hundred poems, but the meaning of all of them may be put in a single sentence: Have no debasing thoughts.

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

When a man comes to me, I accept him at his best, not at his worst. Why make so much ado? When a man washes his hands before paying a visit, and you receive him in that clean state, you do not thereby stand surety for his always having been clean in the past.

The gentleman sees what is right while the small man sees what is profitable.

Big head, target for enemy; big heart, target for friend.

Being strong does not mean that you never fall down, but that whenever you fall, you get up again.