The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come.

If a man is not good, what has he to do with the rules of propriety? If he is not good, what has he to do with music?

A good man regards the root; he fixes the root, and ail else flows out of it. The root is filial piety; the fruit brotherly love.

The gentleman calls attention to the good points in others; he does not call attention to their defects. The small man does just the reverse of this.

How great is the path proper to the Sage! Like overflowing water, it sends forth and nourishes all things, and rises up to the height of heaven. All-complete is its greatness! It embraces the three hundred rules of ceremony, and the three thousand rules of demeanor. It waits for the proper man, and then it is trodden. Hence it is said, 'Only by perfect virtue can the perfect path, in all its courses, be made a fact.'

The man who is master of himself drinks gravely and wisely.

The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground.

The superior man is all-embracing and not partial. The inferior man is partial and not all-embracing.

If a man has no humaneness what can his propriety be like? If a man has no humaneness what can his happiness be like?