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.
The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.
Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand.
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.
Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.
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.