Mencius

If you do not get what you want, you should turn inwards and examine yourself.

The way of learning is none other than to seek for the lost mind.

The trees of the Ox Mountain were once beautiful. But when they were cut down day after day, how could they retain their beauty? And if their roots were nourished by the rain and dew, and new shoots sprang up, then cattle and sheep came to graze, and so it went on. Thus, it was as if they were bare. Seeing them bare, people thought that they had never been beautiful. But was that the nature of the mountain?

If a man cannot govern himself, how can he govern others?

He who loves others will be constantly loved by others. He who respects others will be constantly respected by others.

There are three things that a superior man delights in. To have his parents alive and the world at peace; to have no occasion for shame before Heaven or men; to have men of talent come to him and instruct them. These are the three things in which the superior man delights. But to have the empire is not one of them.