"The root of the empire is in the state; the root of the state is in the family; the root of the family is in the person of its head."

"He who exerts his mind to the utmost knows his nature."

"The disease of men is this: that they neglect their own field, and go to cultivate the fields of others."

"To act without knowing why, and to follow without knowing whither, is the common way of men."

"The people are the most important element in a nation; the spirits of the land and grain are the next; the sovereign is the lightest."