Topics · Life & Self
Wisdom about discipline.
What people have learned about discipline the hard way, and what the classics said about it first.
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From the library
Nothing will come of nothing.
Let each man direct himself first to what is proper; then let him teach others.
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
The cautious seldom err.
Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark.
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
Gravity is the root of lightness; stillness, the ruler of movement.
Sweet are the uses of adversity.
The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
The people are difficult to govern because of the (excessive) agency of their superiors (in governing them). It is through this that they are difficult to govern.
Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
The partial becomes complete; the crooked, straight; the empty, full; the worn out, new. He whose (desires) are few gets them; he whose (desires) are many goes astray.
The miserable have no other medicine but only hope.
The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so.
Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.
Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.
Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear. Who can secure the condition of rest? Let movement go on, and the condition of rest will gradually arise.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day.
The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.
The difficulty in governing the people arises from their having much knowledge. He who (tries to) govern a state by his wisdom is a scourge to it; while he who does not (try to) do so is a blessing.
How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.
He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge and without desire, and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act (on it). When there is this abstinence from action, good order is universal.
There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.
If this transformation became to me an object of desire, I would express the desire by the nameless simplicity. Simplicity without a name Is free from all external aim. With no desire, at rest and still, All things go right as of their will. PART II.
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.
Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.
Who thinks his great achievements poor Shall find his vigour long endure. Of greatest fulness, deemed a void, Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide. Do thou what's straight still crooked deem; Thy greatest art still stupid seem, And eloquence a stammering scream.
The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.
In a little state with a small population, I would so order it, that, though there were individuals with the abilities of ten or a hundred men, there should be no employment of them; I would make the people, while looking on death as a grievous thing, yet not remove elsewhere (to avoid it).
Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.
The excellence of a residence is in (the suitability of) the place; that of the mind is in abysmal stillness; that of associations is in their being with the virtuous; that of government is in its securing good order; that of (the conduct of) affairs is in its ability; and that of (the initiation of) any movement is in its timeliness.
In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
That which is at rest is easily kept hold of; before a thing has given indications of its presence, it is easy to take measures against it; that which is brittle is easily broken; that which is very small is easily dispersed. Action should be taken before a thing has made its appearance; order should be secured before disorder has begun.
Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
The report of that fulfilment is the regular, unchanging rule. To know that unchanging rule is to be intelligent; not to know it leads to wild movements and evil issues. The knowledge of that unchanging rule produces a (grand) capacity and forbearance, and that capacity and forbearance lead to a community (of feeling with all things). From this community of feeling comes a kingliness of…
The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.
The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends. Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves…
In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.