“There may be difficulty at the moment, but I will not lose the Virtue that I possess. It is when the ice and snow are on them that we see the strength of the cypress and the pine. I am grateful for this trouble around me, because it gives me an opportunity to realize how fortunate I am.”

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

Men do not mirror themselves in running water – they mirror themselves in still water. Only what is still can still the stillness of other things.

The men of old breathed clear down to their heels.

When deeds and words are in accord, the whole world is transformed.

All men know the use of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so that I can have a word with him?

The greatest tragedy that can befall a person is the atrophy of his mind.

Understanding that rests in what it does not understand is the finest.

The sage embraces things. Ordinary men discriminate amongst them and parade their discriminations before others. So I say; those who discriminate, fail to see.

He who regards all things as one is a companion of Nature.

Great knowledge sees all in one. Small knowledge breaks down into the many.

Verily God does not reward man for what he does, but for what he is.

Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone.

Running around accusing others is not as good as laughing. And enjoying a good laugh is not as good as going along with things.

The creature born is the creature dying.

Fish live in water. Men die in it. Nature is diverse, and not all tastes are the same.

We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.

I have been fortunate to collaborate with people who have been open to discussion. If I tell them something, they have always explained to me why they want it the other way.

Politicians are there to try to deal with stuff, but sometimes it’s both fortunate and unfortunate that people like us have more… not involvement, but more power in the stuff that we say.

How unfortunate that we tend to miss the ones who leave but neglect the ones who stay.

Many exceedingly rich men are unhappy, but many middling circumstances are fortunate.

But if you know that you are a man too, and that even such are those that rule, learn this first of all: that all human affairs are a wheel which, as it turns, does not allow the same men always to be fortunate.

How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.

I’ve been fortunate. I don’t pick scripts. Scripts pick me.

The man who is fortunate in his choice of son-in-law gains a son; the man unfortunate in his choice loses his daughter also.