Thus, that one can find no place to walk through the breadth of the earth is not because the earth is not tranquil but because the danger to every step of the traveler lies generally with words.

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

Those whose character is mean and vicious will rouse others to animosity against them.

Sacrifices are concerned with the feelings of devotion and longing.

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

The nature of man is evil; what is good in him is artificial.

Misery is evil; quarreling, a misfortune. There is only one possibility of avoiding both: a clear division of society. [Otherwise] the strong tyrannize the weak, the intelligent frighten the stupid, the inferior resist the superior, and the young mock the old.