More pithy sayings ...
All these are from the Analects of Confucius:
"If one learns from others but does not think, one will be bewildered. If, on the other hand, one thinks but does not learn from others, one will be in peril."
--2.15
"Do not worry because you have no official position. Worry about your qualifications. Do not worry because no one appreciates your abilities. Seek to be worthy of appreciation."
--4.14
"The gentleman understands what is moral. The small man understands what is profitable."
--4.16
"When you someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self."
--4.17
"You can tell those who are above average about the best, but not those who are below average."
--6.21
"It is these things that cause me concern: failure to cultivate virtue, failure to go more deeply into what I have learned, inability, when I am told what is right, to move to where it is, and inability to reform myself when I have defects."
--7.3
"I never enlighten anyone who has not been driven to distraction by trying to understand a difficulty or who has not got into a frenzy trying to put his ideas into words. When I have pointed out one corner of a square to anyone and he does not come back with the other three, I will not point it out to him a second time."
--7.8
"Even when walking in the company of two other men, I am bound to be able to learn from them. The good points of the one I copy; the bad points of the other I correct in myself."
--7.22
"To be able to ask the advice of those who are not able. To have many talents yet to ask the advice of those who have few. To have yet to appear to want. To be full yet to appear empty. To be transgressedagainst yet not to mind. It was towards this end that my friend Yen Hui used to direct his efforts."
--8.5
Yen Yuan, heaving a sigh, said, "The more I look up at it the higher it appears. The more I bore into it the harder it becomes. I see it before me. Suddenly it is behind me. The Master is good at leading one on step by step. He broadens me with culture and brings me back to the essentials by means of the rites. I cannot give up even if I wanted to, but, having done all I can, it seems to rise sheer above me and I have no way of going after it, however much I may want to."
--9.11
"There are, are there not, young plants that fail to produce blossoms, and blossoms that fail to produce fruit?"
--9.22
"Hui is no help to me at all. He is pleased with everything I say."
--11.4
Tzu-lu said, "If the Lord of Wei left the administration of his state to you, what would you put first?"
The Master said, "If something has to be put first, it is, perhaps, the rectification of names."
Tzu-lu said, "Is that so? What a roundabout way you take! Why bring rectification in at all?"
The Master said, "How boorish you are. Where a gentleman is ignorant, one would expect him not to offer any opinion. When names are not correct, what is said will not sound reasonable; when what is said does not sound reasonable, affairs will not culminate in success; when affairs do not culminate in success, rites and music will not flourish; when rites and music do not flourish, punishments will not fit the crimes; when punishments do not fit the crimes, the common people will not know where to put hand annd foot. Thus when the gentleman names something, the same is sure to be usable in speech, and when he says something this is sure to be practicable. The thing about the gentleman is that he is anything but casual where speech is concerned."
--13.3
"If a man is correct in his own person, then there will be obedience without orders being given; but if he is not correct in his own person, there will not be obedience even though orders are given."
--13.6
"The gentleman agrees with others without being being an echo. The small man echoes without being in agreement."
--13.23
"The gentleman is at ease without being arrogant; the small man is arrogant without being at ease."
--13.26
"Can you love anyone without making him work hard? Can you do your best for anyone without educating him?"
--14.7
"The gentleman gets through to what is up above; the small man gets through to what is down below."
--14.23
"Men of antiquity studied to improve themselves; men today study to impress others."
--14.24
"The gentleman is ashamed of his word outstripping his deed."
--14.27
"It is not the failure of others to appreciate your abilities that should trouble you, but rather your own lack of them."
--14.30
"To fail to speak to a man who is capable of benefiting is to let a man go to waste. To speak to a man who is incapable of benefiting is to let one's words go to waste. A wise man lets neither men nor words go to waste."
--15.8
"There is nothing I can do with a man who is not constantly saying, 'What am I to do? What am I to do?'"
--15.16
"The gentleman is troubled by his own lack of ability, not by the failure of others to appreciate him."
--15.19
"What the gentleman seeks, he seeks within himself; what the small man seeks, he seeks in others."
--15.21
"The gentleman is conscious of his own superiority without being contentious, and comes together wiith other gentlemen without forming cliques."
--15.22
"The gentleman does not recommend a man on account of what he says, neither does he dismiss what is said one account of the speaker."
--15.23
"Not to mend one's ways when one has erred is to err indeed."
--15.39
"It is only the most intelligent and the most stupid who are not susceptible to change."
--17.3
"If by the age of forty a man is still disliked there is no hope for him."
--17.26
"If one learns from others but does not think, one will be bewildered. If, on the other hand, one thinks but does not learn from others, one will be in peril."
--2.15
"Do not worry because you have no official position. Worry about your qualifications. Do not worry because no one appreciates your abilities. Seek to be worthy of appreciation."
--4.14
"The gentleman understands what is moral. The small man understands what is profitable."
--4.16
"When you someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self."
--4.17
"You can tell those who are above average about the best, but not those who are below average."
--6.21
"It is these things that cause me concern: failure to cultivate virtue, failure to go more deeply into what I have learned, inability, when I am told what is right, to move to where it is, and inability to reform myself when I have defects."
--7.3
"I never enlighten anyone who has not been driven to distraction by trying to understand a difficulty or who has not got into a frenzy trying to put his ideas into words. When I have pointed out one corner of a square to anyone and he does not come back with the other three, I will not point it out to him a second time."
--7.8
"Even when walking in the company of two other men, I am bound to be able to learn from them. The good points of the one I copy; the bad points of the other I correct in myself."
--7.22
"To be able to ask the advice of those who are not able. To have many talents yet to ask the advice of those who have few. To have yet to appear to want. To be full yet to appear empty. To be transgressedagainst yet not to mind. It was towards this end that my friend Yen Hui used to direct his efforts."
--8.5
Yen Yuan, heaving a sigh, said, "The more I look up at it the higher it appears. The more I bore into it the harder it becomes. I see it before me. Suddenly it is behind me. The Master is good at leading one on step by step. He broadens me with culture and brings me back to the essentials by means of the rites. I cannot give up even if I wanted to, but, having done all I can, it seems to rise sheer above me and I have no way of going after it, however much I may want to."
--9.11
"There are, are there not, young plants that fail to produce blossoms, and blossoms that fail to produce fruit?"
--9.22
"Hui is no help to me at all. He is pleased with everything I say."
--11.4
Tzu-lu said, "If the Lord of Wei left the administration of his state to you, what would you put first?"
The Master said, "If something has to be put first, it is, perhaps, the rectification of names."
Tzu-lu said, "Is that so? What a roundabout way you take! Why bring rectification in at all?"
The Master said, "How boorish you are. Where a gentleman is ignorant, one would expect him not to offer any opinion. When names are not correct, what is said will not sound reasonable; when what is said does not sound reasonable, affairs will not culminate in success; when affairs do not culminate in success, rites and music will not flourish; when rites and music do not flourish, punishments will not fit the crimes; when punishments do not fit the crimes, the common people will not know where to put hand annd foot. Thus when the gentleman names something, the same is sure to be usable in speech, and when he says something this is sure to be practicable. The thing about the gentleman is that he is anything but casual where speech is concerned."
--13.3
"If a man is correct in his own person, then there will be obedience without orders being given; but if he is not correct in his own person, there will not be obedience even though orders are given."
--13.6
"The gentleman agrees with others without being being an echo. The small man echoes without being in agreement."
--13.23
"The gentleman is at ease without being arrogant; the small man is arrogant without being at ease."
--13.26
"Can you love anyone without making him work hard? Can you do your best for anyone without educating him?"
--14.7
"The gentleman gets through to what is up above; the small man gets through to what is down below."
--14.23
"Men of antiquity studied to improve themselves; men today study to impress others."
--14.24
"The gentleman is ashamed of his word outstripping his deed."
--14.27
"It is not the failure of others to appreciate your abilities that should trouble you, but rather your own lack of them."
--14.30
"To fail to speak to a man who is capable of benefiting is to let a man go to waste. To speak to a man who is incapable of benefiting is to let one's words go to waste. A wise man lets neither men nor words go to waste."
--15.8
"There is nothing I can do with a man who is not constantly saying, 'What am I to do? What am I to do?'"
--15.16
"The gentleman is troubled by his own lack of ability, not by the failure of others to appreciate him."
--15.19
"What the gentleman seeks, he seeks within himself; what the small man seeks, he seeks in others."
--15.21
"The gentleman is conscious of his own superiority without being contentious, and comes together wiith other gentlemen without forming cliques."
--15.22
"The gentleman does not recommend a man on account of what he says, neither does he dismiss what is said one account of the speaker."
--15.23
"Not to mend one's ways when one has erred is to err indeed."
--15.39
"It is only the most intelligent and the most stupid who are not susceptible to change."
--17.3
"If by the age of forty a man is still disliked there is no hope for him."
--17.26