"Where there's a will," said the master, "there's a way."
To refrain from speaking to a man who is disposed to hear is to wrong the man; to speak to a man not disposed to listen is to waste words.
"How can one in brief express man's whole duty?"
"Is not reciprocity such a word?" said the master; "that is, what thou dost not want others to do to thee, do thou not to others."
There are three things which the virtuous man has to guard against. In youth, lust; in full manhood, strife; and in old age, covetousness.
The highest class of men are those who are born wise; the next those who become wise by study; next and third, those who learn much, without having much natural ability. The lowest class of people are those who have neither natural ability nor perseverance. Men are very similar at birth; it is afterwards the great differences arise.
It is only the wisest and the silliest of men who never alter their opinions.
"My children," said the master once to his disciples,"Why do you not study the Book of Poetry [the Shih King]? It would stimulate your mind, encourage introspection, teach you to love your fellows, and to forbear with all. It would show you your duty to your fathers and your king; and you would also learn from it the names of many birds and beasts and plants and trees."