Therefore, a person should first be changed by a teacher's instructions, and guided by principles of ritual. Only then can he observe the rules of courtesy and humility, obey the conventions and rules of society, and achieve order.

If knowledge and foresight are too penetrating and deep, unify them with ease and sincerity.

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.

The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere.

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

Whether the gentleman is capable or not, he is loved all the same; conversely the petty man is loathed all the same.

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