If a man is proud and avaricious, though his other qualities may embrace all that was fine in the character of Chou Kung, they are not worth taking into account.
It is not easy to find a man who after three years of self-cultivation[13] has not reached happiness.
He who is out of office should not meddle in the government.
Hot-headedness without honesty; ignorance without ingenuousness; simplicity without sincerity:—such characters I do not understand.[14]
Pursue the study of virtue as though you could never reach your goal, and were afraid of losing the ground already gained.
The Master said: I have not met one whose love of virtue was equal to his love of sensual beauty.
Though in making a mound I should stop when but one more basketful of earth would complete it, the fact remains that I have stopped. On the other hand, if in levelling it to the ground I advance my work by but one basketful at a time, the fact remains that I am advancing.[15]
Alas! there are sprouting crops which never come into ear. There are others which, having come into ear, never ripen into grain.
We ought to have a wholesome respect for our juniors. Who knows but that by-and-by they may prove themselves equal to the men of to-day? It is only when they reach the age of forty or fifty without distinguishing themselves that we need no longer be afraid of them.
Words of just admonition cannot fail to command a ready assent. But practical reformation is the thing that really matters. Words of kindly advice cannot fail to please the listener. But subsequent meditation on them is the thing that really matters. I can make nothing of the man who is pleased with advice but will not meditate on it, who assents to admonition but does not reform.