The sage regards things as difficult, and thereby avoids difficulty.

You should rule a great country As you would fry a small fish- With the least turning.

He (the Sage) does not show off, therefore he shines.

Man at his birth is supple and tender, but in death, he is rigid and hard. Thus, suppleness and tenderness accompany life, but rigidity and hardness accompany death.

First, we must do our own personal work, then we tend the necessary work of our family, then our community, then the world.

If people live in constant fear of death, and if breaking the law is punished by death, then who would dare?

A good speaker does not stutter.