Never has a man who has bent himself been able to make others straight.

When Heaven is about to confer a great office on a man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil ; it exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty ; it confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.

Let not a man do what his sense of right bids him not to do, nor desire what it forbids him to desire. This is sufficient. The skillful artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman.

Human nature is good, just as water seeks low ground. There is no man who is not good, just as there is no water that does not flow downward.

Sincerity is the way to heaven; to think how to be sincere is the way of man.

Listen to a man's words and look at the pupil of his eye. How can a man conceal his character?

The way is near, but men seek it afar. It is in easy things, but men seek for it in difficult things.

Men must be decided on what they will not do, and then they are able to act with vigor in what they ought to do.

There is the work of great men and there is the work of little men. Therefore it is said, 'Some labor with their minds and some labor with their strength. Those who labor with their minds govern others; those who labor with their strength are governed by others.'1 Those who are governed by others support them; those who govern them are supported by them. This is a universal principle.