Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.

To govern is to correct. If you set an example by being correct, who would dare remain incorrect?

If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything.

When you see a good man, try to emulate his example, and when you see a bad man, search yourself for his faults.

Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.

To be able to practice five things everywhere under heaven constitutes perfect virtue.[They are] gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.

There are three things which the superior man guards against. In youth...lust. When he is strong...quarrelsomeness. When he is old...covetousness.

Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.

What the superior man seeks is in himself. What the mean man seeks is in others.

The superior man cannot be known in little matters, but he may be entrusted with great concerns. The small man may not be entrusted with great concerns, but he may be known in little matters.