Quotes to inspire and reflect

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.

Beware of dissipating your powers; strive constantly to concentrate them. Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but is sure to repent of every ill-judged outlay.

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.

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

If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.

The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue complete.

Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.

He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.

The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.

The man who in view of gain thinks of righteousness; who in the view of danger is prepared to give up his life; and who does not forget an old agreement however far back it extends - such a man may be reckoned a complete man.

The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.

To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.

While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve spirits [of the dead]?While you do not know life, how can you know about death?

The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may not be made to understand it.

Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand.

The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.

I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.

With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow - I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honors acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud.

The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration.

Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.

The cautious seldom err.

When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.

I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was not virtuous. He who loved virtue would esteem nothing above it.

The superior man...does not set his mind either for anything, or against anything; what is right he will follow.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

Things that are done, it is needless to speak about...things that are past, it is needless to blame.

Better be despised for too anxious apprehensions, then ruined by too confident security.

[The superior man] acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions.

When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.

If a man withdraws his mind from the love of beauty, and applies it as sincerely to the love of the virtuous; if, in serving his parents, he can exert his utmost strength; if, in serving his prince, he can devote his life; if in his intercourse with his friends, his words are sincere - although men say that he has not learned, I will certainly say that he has.

As for me, except for an occasional heart attack, I feel as young as I ever did.

Obtain from yourself all that makes complaining useless. No longer implore from others what you yourself can obtain.

The dawn speeds a man on his journey, and speeds him too in his work.

Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.

A bad neighbor is a misfortune, as much as a good one is a great blessing.

Do not seek evil gains; evil gains are the equivalent of disaster.

Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man.

He harms himself who does harm to another, and the evil plan is most harmful to the planner.

Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to naught, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them.

Nothing feebler than a man does the earth raise up, of all the things which breathe and move on the earth, for he believes that he will never suffer evil in the future, as long as the gods give him success and he flourishes in his strength; but when the blessed gods bring sorrows too to pass, even these he bears, against his will, with steadfast spirit, for the thoughts of earthly men are like the day which the father of gods and men brings upon them.

The gods, likening themselves to all kinds of strangers, go in various disguises from city to city, observing the wrongdoing and the righteousness of men.

Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.

It is equally wrong to speed a guest who does not want to go, and to keep one back who is eager. You ought to make welcome the present guest, and send forth the one who wishes to go.

The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better unspoken.

It is tedious to tell again tales already plainly told.

Among all men on the earth bards have a share of honor and reverence, because the muse has taught them songs and loves the race of bards.

Evil deeds do not prosper; the slow man catches up with the swift.

So it is that the gods do not give all men gifts of grace - neither good looks nor intelligence nor eloquence.