People doing the same things might have different motives.
If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.
Virtue and vice, wisdom and folly are not hereditary.
To make a man of yourself you must toil.
The man who only covets wealth and good living has no sense of honor.
In the midst of great joy, do not promise to give a man anything. In the midst of great anger, do not answer a man’s letter.
Take merit and [use it to] mend sin.
If for one day one does not meditate upon goodness, all [kinds of] wickedness will spring up of themselves.
A pure heart has few desires.
Show compassion to others’ misfortunes, and rejoice in their excellences.
When you converse, let it be with the wise; when you give food, let it be to the hungry.
The door of good works is difficult to open—but when opened, it is difficult to close.
Doing good gives the greatest happiness; study gives the greatest good.
If the mirror is highly polished, the dust will not stain it; if the heart is enlightened, evil desires will not arise in it.
If your fate is not propitious, you should nevertheless cultivate virtue. The sleeping dragon will some day ascend to Heaven. [If your time of fortune has not come, cultivate virtue and wait for your time of fortune].
An hour may destroy the work of a hundred years.
As tao raises a foot, the demon raises ten.[Where truth/tao is prominent, persecution arises.]
How can a tiger or leopard [i.e. a superior person] put up with the insults of a dog or sheep [i.e. a lesser person]?
Listening well is as powerful as talking well, and is also as essential to true conversation.
Do not believe that you will reach your destination without leaving the shore.
If you ask for directions rudely, you might end up many miles from your destination.
Listen to all, pluck a feather from every passing goose, but follow no one absolutely.
Better to be without a book than to believe a book entirely.
Cheat your conscience, and a whole life’s happiness is destroyed.
Let people despise me [as they like]—but if Heaven does not spurn me, then loss is gain.
Set yourself as the standard.
Let us fulfill our own parts, and await the will of Heaven.
The hearts of the people are the only legitimate foundations of the Empire.
Have but few friends, though much acquaintance.
Close to a blacksmith, learn to hammer out nails; close to a carpenter, learn how to use a saw.
Man combs his hair every morning. Why not his heart?
One man spreads a false report, and a hundred report it as truth.
Some people want to be praised for the rest of their lives for what they did well for one day.
Great truths cannot penetrate rustic ears.
You can’t talk of the ocean to a well-frog.
The melon seller does not announce, “Bitter melons.”
Solve one problem, and you keep a hundred others away.
If you want to avoid being cheated, ask for prices at three different stores.
If a girl seems as shy as a mouse, you still have to look out for the tiger within her.
To be totally at leisure for one day is to be immortal for one day.
Some study shows the need for more.
A wise man adapts himself to circumstances as water shapes itself according to the vessel that contains it.
Whoever undertakes a task cannot repudiate the responsibility.
Near vermilion one gets stained pink; near ink one gets stained black. Near putrid fish you’ll stink; near the epidendrum you’ll be fragrant.[One takes the color and odor of one’s company.]
Heaven and Earth will not be angry with one who will correct his faults.
One sincere thought can influence Heaven and Earth.
You may deceive people. You cannot deceive Heaven.
The error of one moment becomes the sorrow of a whole life.
He who waits for a roast duck to fly in his mouth must wait a very long time.
It is easier to visit friends than to live with them.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.
A hobbling cat is better than a fast horse when rats swarm the palace.
In a group of many words, there is bound to be a mistake.
Heaven knows and Earth knows—how can I alone know?
Heaven, having let me be born as a man, requires me to follow its doctrines.
The smallest desire to do good is—though not seen by man—certainly known to Heaven.
It is for me to put forth the utmost effort; it rests with Heaven to give success to my plans.
If your principles are not good, you sin against Heaven and Earth; if your words and actions are good, you leave an example for sons and grandsons.
It is after a hundred battles that heroes are produced.
If one plants in the springtime, one will harvest in the fall.
A good heart influences Heaven and Earth.
With a helmsman [i.e. leader] that is not nervous, the passengers [i.e. followers] [will feel] secure.
A hundred foot bamboo can progress yet another step.
Don’t go thirty miles to sell firewood, or three hundred miles to purchase grain.
If you don’t scale the mountain, you can’t view the plain.
All language is not in books, nor all thoughts in language.
He who has seen little is astonished at much.
If a man keeps his mouth shut, his words become proverbial.
The way to close the mouth of a slanderer is to treat him with contempt.
Great profits, great risks.
Who is the greatest liar? Who talks most of himself.
A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.
Joy is not a horse. You cannot harness it.
When economy goes south, people get political.
Easy to open a shop, hard to keep it open.
There are two kinds of perfect people: those who are dead, and those who have not been born yet.
If you want your children to have a peaceful life, let them suffer a little hunger and a little coldness.
One beam, no matter how big, cannot support an entire house on its own.
The people who talk the best are not the only ones who can tell you the most interesting things.
The people sitting in the free theatre seats are the first ones to boo.
Ripe fruit falls by itself, but it doesn’t fall in your mouth.
To know another is not to know that person’s face, but to know that person’s heart.
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
Better the cottage where one is merry than the palace where one weeps.
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life.
Hen who has never been cheated cannot be a good businessman.
He who thinks too much about every step he takes will always stay on one leg.
Tenacity and adversity are old foes.
Of all female qualities, a warm heart is the most valuable.
Before preparing to improve the world, first look around your own home three times.
All things change, and we change with them.
Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.
The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.
Do not do all you can, do not spend all that you have, do not believe all that you hear, and do not tell all that you know.
Do not tear down the east wall to repair the west wall.
If you are standing upright, don’t worry if your shadow is crooked.
If you want an audience, start a fight.
Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength.
Learning is a weightless treasure you can always carry easily.
Married couples tell each other a thousand things without speech.
Heaven has a road, but no one travels it; Hell has no gate, but people bore into it.
If there were no gods or demons in the world, man would do all kinds of things
[Without the fear of the gods, man would be uncontrollable]
An accidental meeting is more pleasant than a planned one.