Confucius
(page 4)

To throw oneself into strange teachings is quite dangerous.

Listen widely to remove your doubts and be careful when speaking about the rest and your mistakes will be few.

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

The Superior Man has nothing to compete for. But if he must compete, he does it in an archery match, wherein he ascends to his position, bowing in deference.

When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them.

When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are things to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honor are things to be ashamed of.

He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place when all the stars are rotating about it.

The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.

What Heaven has conferred is called The Nature; an accordance with this nature is called The Path of duty; the regulation of this path is called Instruction. The path may not be left for an instant. If it could be left, it would not be the path.

Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection, and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish.

There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute. Therefore the superior man is watchful over himself, when he is alone.

Heaven, in the production of things, is sure to be bountiful to them, according to their qualities. Hence the tree that is flourishing, it nourishes, while that which is ready to fall, it overthrows.

To be fond of learning is to be near to knowledge. To practice with vigor is to be near to magnanimity. To possess the feeling of shame is to be near to energy.

In all things success depends on previous preparation, and without such previous preparation there is sure to be failure.

Sincerity is the way of Heaven. The attainment of sincerity is the way of men.

Sincerity is that whereby self-completion is effected, and its way is that by which man must direct himself.

The way of Heaven and Earth may be completely declared in one sentence: They are without any doubleness, and so they produce things in a manner that is unfathomable.