To be fully fed and warmly clothed, and dwell at ease without learning, is little better than a bestial state.
A woman in one house can not eat the rice of two. (A wise woman does not marry again.)
Though the sword be sharp, it will not wound the innocent.
Sensuality is the chief of sins, filial duty the best of acts.
Prosperity is a blessing to the good, but to the evil it is a curse.
Instruction pervades the heart of the wise, but can not penetrate the ears of a fool.
The straightest trees are first felled; the cleanest wells first drunk up. The yielding tongue endures; the stubborn teeth perish.
Old age is like a candle in the wind, easily blown out.
The blind have the best ears, and the deaf the sharpest eyes.
The horse's back is not so safe as the buffalo's. (The politician is not sò secure as the husbandman.)
A wife should excel in four things, virtue, speech, person, and needlework. He who is willing to inquire will excel, but the self-sufficient man will fail Anger is like a little fire, which if not timely checked may burn down a lofty pile.
Every day can not be a feast of lanterns.
Too much lenity multiplies crime.
If you love your son, give him plenty of the cudgel; if you hate him, cram him with dainties.
When the mirror is highly polished, the dust will not defile it; when the heart is enlightened with wisdom, impure thoughts will not arise in it.
Do not consider any vice as trivial, and therefore practise it; or any virtue as unimportant, and therefore omit it.
A stubborn wife and stiffnecked sou no laws can govern.
He is my teacher who tells me my faults, my enemy who speaks my virtues He has little courage who knows the right and does it not.
To sue a flea, and catch a bite ;—the results of litigation.
Would you understand the character of a prince, look at his ministers ; or the disposition of a man, observe his companions; or that of a father, first mark bis son.
The fame of good deeds does not leave a man's door, but his evil acts are known a thousand miles off.
The advantages of good laws are to be found only in their strict observance. A virtuous woman is a source of honor to her husband, a vicious one disgraces him.
The original tendency of man's heart is to do right, and if well ordered will not of itself be mistaken.
They who respect themselves will be honored, but disesteeming ourselves we shall be despised.
The light of one star illumines the mountains of many regions, so one unguarded expression injures a whole life of virtue.