If I raise one corner for someone and he cannot come back with the other three, I do not go on.

To be wealthy and honored in an unjust society is a disgrace.

Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.

Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.

If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things.

What can a man do with music who is not benevolent?

When the wind blows, the grass bends.

The wise never doubt. The Humane never worry. The brave never fear.

One who never anticipates deceit or expects duplicity, and yet is the first to recognize such things – is that not a sage indeed?

I am not one who was born with great wisdom. I love the ancients and diligently seek wisdom among them.

Am I a man of great wisdom? Hardly! Even when a simple person brings me a question, my mind goes utterly blank, I just thrash it out until I’ve exhausted every possibility.

God created human beings in his own likeness.

It is interesting indeed that some people think they are right to force others into believing what they believe.

he had been making an unsuccessful effort to write something about nothing in particular

You can't appreciate the good times without the bad ones.

The individual whose vision encompasses the whole world often feels nowhere so hedged in and out of touch with his surroundings as in his native land.

We can help people. We have got to move this economy from its over-dependence on debt. People should have manageable debts, a manageable mortgage.

I'm a big fan of simplicity, especially with songs and I try not to make them complicated. I just make them simple and let people absorb that message themselves. That's my theory.

...most of the time we were alone and mixing up our souls ever more and ever more till it would be terribly hard to say good-by.

Hard times make you bitter or make you more compassionate.

There is never just one way to say something, and there is always another way to say something.