A daily bilingual series presenting one verified Classical Chinese sentence with its source, context, original meaning and a restrained contemporary reflection.
- A Fleabane Among Hemp Grows Straight Without Support
- A Junzi Is Not a Vessel — A Person Is More Than One Use
- A Good Learner Makes Teaching More Effective
- A Near Road Still Requires Walking
- A Petty Person Always Decorates a Fault
- A Skilful Questioner Works Like a Woodworker
- A Student Need Not Be Inferior to the Teacher
- A Frog in a Well Cannot Be Told of the Sea, Being Confined by Its Space
- Advise Sincerely, but Know When to Stop
- Asking Broadens Understanding; Self-Certainty Narrows It
- Be Troubled by Inability, Not by Being Unknown
- Believing Every Word Is Not the Same as Reading
- Who Is Without Fault? The Greatest Good Is to Correct It
- Do Not Demand Completeness from One Person
- Do Not Let Words Obscure the Author’s Intent
- Do Not Transfer Anger or Repeat a Mistake
- Do Not Worry That Others Do Not Know You
- Can We Judge Without Seeing or Hearing? — Evidence Before Conclusion
- Examine Both What Everyone Condemns and What Everyone Praises
- Examine Yourself Before Blaming Others
- Extensive Learning Should Return to Concision
- No Presumption, No Insistence, No Rigidity, No Self-Centredness
- Good Teaching Lets Others Continue the Purpose
- Approach Goodness Eagerly; Draw Back from Wrong as from Scalding Water
- Guidance Begins When the Learner Is Striving
- Haste Misses the Goal; Small Gains Obstruct Great Work
- Now I Hear Their Words and Observe Their Conduct
- Hearing Disputes Is Not Enough
- Hearsay Repeated on the Road Abandons Virtue
- Look at What They Do, How They Proceed, and Where They Rest
- Do Not Promote a Person for Words or Reject Words for the Person
- Knowing What Comes First Brings Us Near the Way
- Knowing Where to Rest Brings Steadiness
- Knowing Where to Stop — Purpose Before Speed
- Learning Alone Without Companions Narrows Understanding
- The Ancients Learnt for Themselves; People Today Learn for Others
- Learn What You Lack, Retain What You Know — Learning Needs Maintenance
- Learning Reveals What We Lack; Teaching Reveals What Is Difficult
- Those Who Love Others Are Loved; Those Who Respect Others Are Respected
- Memorised Answers Are Not Enough to Make a Teacher
- Minds Differ Just as Faces Do
- Must Every Word Be Kept at Any Cost?
- Do Not Let One Fault Hide Great Merit — One Mistake Is Not the Whole Person
- Only After Declining Some Things Can We Act
- People Enlarge the Way; the Way Does Not Enlarge People
- People Know the Use of the Useful, but Not of the Useless
- Preparation Gives Action a Form
- See the Worthy, Then Examine Yourself
- Hear Widely, Set Doubts Aside, and Speak the Rest with Care
- If the Water Is Not Deep, It Cannot Carry a Great Boat
- The Exemplary Person Is Skilled at Using What Is Available
- When Substance and Form Correct Each Other
- The Able Still Ask Those with Less
- A Human Fault Is the Desire to Instruct Others
- The Past Cannot Be Corrected; What Comes May Still Be Pursued
- The Wise Lose Neither the Person nor the Words
- Those Who Err Through Restraint Are Few
- The Days Pass, and Time Will Not Wait — Do Not Let Delay Replace Choice
- Trust Must Come Before Demands
- Do Not Assume Deceit or Presume Distrust
- Ji Wenzi Thought Three Times; Confucius Said Twice Would Do
- When Humanity Is at Stake, Do Not Defer
- If You Never Ask 'What Can Be Done?', Nothing Can Be Done for You
- Without Climbing High, We Do Not Know the Height of Heaven
- Without Genuineness and Sincerity, One Cannot Move Others
- Words Need Only Carry the Meaning Through
- One Should Be Ashamed When Words Exceed Deeds