Great Throughts Treasury

"There is no greater delight than to be conscious of sincerity on self-examination."

"Every duty is a charge, but the charge of oneself is the root of all others"

"A real man is he whose goodness is a part of himself."

"The great man is he who does not lose his child-heart. He does not think beforehand that his words shall be sincere, nor that his acts shall be resolute; he simply abides in the right."

"Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness."

"We survive on adversity and perish in ease and comfort."

"The regular path of virtue is to be pursued without any bend, and from no view to emolument."

"Incessant falls teach men to reform, and distress rouses their strength. Life springs from calamity, and death from ease."

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

"What is the most important duty? One's duty toward one's parent."

"So I like life and I like righteousness; if I cannot keep the two together, I will let life go and choose righteousness."

"Human-heartedness is man's mind. Righteousness is man's path. How sad that he abandons that path and does not rely on it; that he loses that mind and does not know to seek it. When a man has lost a cock or a dog, he knows to seek it, but having lost his (proper) mind, he does not know to seek it. The Way of Learning is nothing other than seeking the lost mind."

"If the prince of a State loves benevolence, he will have no opponent in all the empire."

"To act without clear understanding, to form habits without investigation, to follow a path all one's life without knowing where it really leads -- such is the behavior of the multitude."

"There is no attribute of the superior man greater than his helping men to practice virtue."

"The great end of learning is nothing else but to seek for the lost mind."

"All things are already complete in us. There is no greater delight than to be conscious of right within us. If one strives to treat others as he would be treated by them, he shall not fail to come near the perfect life."

"The superior man will not manifest either narrow-mindedness or the want of self-respect."

"Man differs from the animal only by a little; most men throw that little away."

"He who wishes to be benevolent will not be rich."

"The Tao is near and people seek it far away."

"If you love men and they are unfriendly, look into your love if you rule men and they are unruly, look into your wisdom if you are courteous to them and they do not respond, look into your courtesy. If what you do is vain, always seek within."