Make friends with the upright, intelligent and wise; avoid the licentious, talkative and vain.
Disputation often breeds hatred.
Nourish good principles with the same care that a mother would bestow on her newborn babe. You may not be able to bring them to maturity, but you will nevertheless be not far from doing so.
The decrees of Heaven are not immutable, for though a throne may be gained by virtue, it may be lost by vice.
There are five good principles of action to be adopted: To benefit others without being lavish; to encourage labor without being harsh; to add to your resources without being covetous; to be dignified without being supercilious; and to inspire awe without being austere. Also, we should not search for love or demand it, but so live that it will flow to us.
Personal character can only be established on fixed principles, for if the mind be allowed to be agitated by violent emotions, to be excited by fear, or unduly moved by the love of pleasure, it will be impossible for it to be made perfect. A man must reason calmly, for without reason he would look and not see, listen and not hear.
When a man has been helped around one corner of a square, and can not manage by himself to get around the other three, he is unworthy of further assistance.