To lay hold of the mean without taking into account the occasion is like grasping one thing only.

Charity is in the heart of man, and righteousness in the path of men. Pity the man who has lost his path and does not follow it and who has lost his heart and does not know how to recover it. When people's dogs and chicks are lost they go out and look for them and yet the people who have lost their hearts do not go out and look for them. The principle of self-cultivation consists in nothing but trying to look for the lost heart.

Mankind fears an evil man but heaven does not.

If you love men and they are unfriendly, look into your love; if you rule men and they are unruly, look into your wisdom; if you are courteous to them and they do not respond, look into your courtesy. If what you do is vain, always seek within.

The way is near, but men seek it afar. It is in easy things, but men seek for it in difficult things.

A man must first despise himself, and then others will despise him.

Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness.