When the men of antiquity realized their wishes, benefits were conferred by them on the people. If they did not realize their wishes, they cultivated their personal character, and became illustrious in the world. If poor, they attended to their own virtue in solitude; if advanced to dignity, they made the whole empire virtuous as well.

Friendship is one mind in two bodies.

When Heaven is about to confer a great office upon you, it first exercises your mind with suffering and your sinews and bones with toil.

Listen to a man's words and look at the pupil of his eye. How can a man conceal his character?

A small country cannot contend with a great; the few cannot contend with the many; the weak cannot contend with the strong

The gap between enthusiasm and indifference is filled with failures. The great man is he that does not lose his child's heart.

To act without clear understanding, to form habits without investigation, to follow a path all one's life without knowing where it really leads; such is the behavior of the multitude.