I do not remember anything which Confucius has said directly respecting man's "origin, purpose, and destiny." He was more practical than that. He is full of wisdom applied to human relations,--to the private life,--the family,--government, etc. It is remarkable that, according to his own account, the sum and substance of his teaching is, as you know, to do as you would be done by.

We live thick and are in each other's way, and stumble over one another, and I think we thus lose some respect for one another.

Give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth.

Good deeds are no less good because their object is unworthy.

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are.

I pray that the life of this spring and summer may ever lie fair in my memory.

Very few men can speak of Nature, for instance, with any truth. They overstep her modesty, somehow or other, and confer no favor.They do not speak a good word for her. Most cry better than they speak, and you can get more nature out of them by pinching than by addressing them. The surliness with which the woodchopper speaks of his woods, handling them as indifferently as his axe, is better than the mealy-mouthed enthusiasm of the lover of nature. Better that the primrose by the river's brim be a yellow primrose, and nothing more, than that it be something less.