Displaying riches and titles with pride brings about one's downfall.

To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease.

Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.

A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

To bear the country's disgrace is to rule the shrines of soil and grain. To bear the country's misfortunes is to be the king of the world.

If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

It is wisdom to know others; It is enlightenment to know one's self.

To realize that you do not understand is a virtue. Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.

The greatest conqueror wins without struggle.