There are successful scholars, public-spirited scholars, upright scholars, cautious scholars, and those who are merely petty men.

In antiquity the sage kings recognized that men's nature is bad and that their tendencies were not being corrected and their lawlessness controlled.

You look upon the seasons with expectation and await them: wy not seize the seasonal opportunities and exploit them?

Human nature refers to what is in people but which they cannot study or work at achieving.

If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.

I once tried thinking for an entire day, but I found it less valuable than one moment of study.

Human nature is such that people are born with a love of profit If they follow these inclinations, they will struggle and snatch from each other, and inclinations to defer or yield will die.