Ancient Chinese Philosophers' Life Lessons Men Learn Too Late In Life

Three things never come back: time, word, and opportunity. Therefore, do not waste time, choose words, and do not miss the opportunity. If they spit at you behind your back, it means you're ahead of them.

We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one. The disease of men is that they neglect their own fields and go to weed the fields of others. Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

There are one thousand lessons in defeat but only one in victory. If you are depressed, you are living in the past; if you are anxious, you are living in the future; if you are at peace, you are living in the present. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

We take greater pains to persuade others that we are happy and endeavoring to think so ourselves. A healthy man wants a thousand things; a sick man only wants one. Work on clearing your thoughts; if you do not have bad thoughts, there will be no bad deeds.

The man who says he can and the man who says he cannot are both correct. Learn as if you constantly feel you lack your knowledge and as if you are constantly afraid of losing your knowledge. Don't criticize your neighbor's roof for a lot of snow when your door is not clean.

If you hate, then you have been defeated. It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them. Appear weak when you are strong, strong when you are weak.

He who flatters a man is his enemy; he who tells him of his faults is his maker. To see what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice. What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.

The person attempting to travel two roads at once will get nowhere. He who is satisfied with his lot is rich. The noble person uses things; the lesser man is used by things.

A leader leads by example, not by force. Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust. Man's nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity.

In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity. To lead people, follow them. When anger rises, think of the consequences.

To know your enemy, you must become your enemy. If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room. Opportunities multiply as they are seized.

Get rid of the desire to have; the funniest people are the saddest ones. When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

Who wishes to fight must first count the cost, and weak wins over hard and strong. Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness; be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby, you can be the director of the opponent's fate.

True words are not pleasant; pleasant words are not true. What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins but excels in winning with ease. Live for the praise of others, and you will become their prisoner.

People in ancient times did not like to talk much; they considered it a shame for themselves not to keep up with their own words. You have to believe in yourself. There is nothing softer and more flexible than water, but try to resist it.

Was all the answers not asked? All the questions. If the mind is willing, the flesh could go on and on without many things.

Watch your thoughts; they become your words. Watch your words; they become your actions. Watch your actions; they become your habits.

Watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. Great results can be achieved with small forces.

The wise man avoids all extremes. Great is the man who has not lost his childlike heart. We accept advice in drops, but we distribute it in buckets.

Ponder and deliberate before you make a move. When people know a lot, it is difficult to manage them. If what one has to say is not better than silence, then one should keep silent.

Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting. Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

Wheels of justice grind slow but grind fine. Man dies from birth. Study the past if you would define the future.

It is easy to love your friend, but sometimes the hardest lesson to learn is to love your enemy. Knowledge is the treasure, and practice is the key to it. You can overcome bad habits only today, not tomorrow.

Who knows doesn't say; who speaks doesn't know. You can't trust a man who has nothing to lose. Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

Plan for what is difficult while it is easy; do what is great while it is small. Whoever talks a lot often fails. Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

If he sends reinforcements everywhere, it will be weak everywhere. Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes; don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality; let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

Think of tomorrow; the past can't be mended. An enemy is a friend who knows too much about you. Victory over others gives strength; victory over oneself gives fearlessness.

Give a bowl of rice to a man, and you will feed him for a day. Teach him to grow his own rice, and you will save his life. Disorder came from order.

"Fear came from courage; weakness came from strength. Do not seek; otherwise, you will lose. Do not seek, and you will find it.

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. The skillful artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman. Beware of sugar that is mixed with poison.

Beware of the fly that sat on a dead snake. A man dies easily because he has too much will to live. Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.

Time is a created thing; to say 'I don't have time' is like saying 'I don't want to. ' A noble person blames himself, and an insignificant person blames others. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.

Fill your bowl to the brim, and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife, and it will be blunt. Friends are the siblings God never gave us.

It is better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness. Every animal with blood in its veins and horns on its head will fight when it is attacked. The one who knows and pretends not to know is on top; who, without knowledge, pretends to be knowledgeable?

He is sick. Tell me, and I will forget; show me, and I may remember; involve me, and I will understand. Care about what other people think, and you will always be their prisoner.

Getting something done is like digging a well. You can dig a well 70 feet deep, but if you don't hit water, it's just an abandoned well. Even a loss can turn into a profit, or profit can turn into a loss.

The feeling of right or wrong is the beginning of wisdom. There is no crime greater than having too many desires. There is no disaster greater than not being content.

There is no misfortune greater than being covetous. Attack the evil that is within yourself rather than attacking the evil that is in others. Be attentive to your thoughts; they are the beginning of actions.

To complain about an unpleasant thing is to double the evil; to laugh at it is to destroy it. You can always rise above those who offend you by forgiving them. By three methods, we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the bitterest.

The truth is not always beautiful, nor are beautiful words the truth. People are distressed by their inability to do it; the problem, however, is simply that they don't do it. You are controlled by the one who makes you angry.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. Roads were made for journeys, not destinations.

Never say never, because the days go by so fast, and nothing stays the same. Your life is what your thoughts make it. We gain by losing, lose by gaining.

No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance. When I free myself from who I am, I become who I can be. Happiness is when you are understood; great happiness is when you are loved; real happiness is when you love.

Temperance is the first step of virtue, which is the beginning of moral perfection. Sometimes we see a lot but do not notice the main thing. The snow goose needs not bathe to make itself white; neither need you do anything but be yourself.

The wise man is one who knows what he does not know. Respect yourself, and others will respect you. If you lack faith, then existence does not believe in you.

What is evil to one at one time becomes good at another time to somebody else. I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion; these three are your greatest treasures. Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

The way is near, but men seek it too far; it is in easy things, but men seek for it in difficult things. New beginnings are disguised as painful endings. Forget injuries; never forget kindness.

So the unwilling soul sees what's hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants. There is beauty in everything, but not everyone can see it. The way of truth is like a great road; it is not difficult to know it.

The evil is only that men will not seek it. A man must not be without shame, for the shame of being without shame is shamelessness. Indeed, be bent, and you will stay straight; be empty, and you will remain complete; be worn out, and you will stay new.

The man who chases two rabbits catches neither. Health is the greatest possession; contentment is the greatest treasure; confidence is the greatest friend. A trail through the mountains, if used, becomes a path in a short time; but if unused, it becomes blocked by grass in an equally short time.

It is easy to hate, and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works: all good things are difficult to achieve, and bad things are very easy to get. The whole being knows without learning, sees without looking, and detains without doing.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous. Try your best to be to others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence. Success is as dangerous as failure; hope is as hollow as fear.

People of higher morality do not consider themselves moral; therefore, they have the highest morality. If you make a mistake and do not correct it, this is called a mistake. " Who wants to be above people puts himself below them.

Wanting to be ahead of them, he becomes behind. The one who offends you takes away your negative energy and gives you his positive energy. What is a good man but a bad man's teacher?

What is a bad man but a good man's job? Learn as if you were not reaching your goal and as though you were scared of missing it. If you are alone for a long time, soon you will accept loneliness.

You will never know your potential if you are afraid to be alone. You cannot open a book without learning something. An absence of sex turns a person into a neurotic.

By remaining true to yourself, without seeking to compare and compete, you will achieve universal respect. If someone wants to offend you greatly, then it is even worse for him. A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. A great man clings to the essential and leaves the insignificant. He does everything in truth, but he will never rely on laws.

Worry not that no one knows you; seek to be worth knowing. If you aren't afraid of dying, there is nothing you can't achieve. The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

Whoever undertaking a business hurries too quickly to achieve a result will do nothing; he who carefully finishes his work as he began will not fail. The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute; the man who does not ask is a fool for life. The more you don't have sex, the less you want it.

Truth uttered before its time is always dangerous. When true virtue is lost, good nature appears; when good nature is lost, justice appears. When justice is lost, decency appears.

The rules of decency are only the semblance of truth and the beginning of all disorder. If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement. To recognize your insignificance is empowering.

Friendship is one mind in two bodies. He who knows the measure is satisfied with his position. Pride in excess brings disaster for man.

Sometimes you must yield in order to win, and sometimes maintaining a low place leads you to win.