1. Active hands, full bellies.

2. Cultivate a heart of love that knows no anger.

3. Don’t let an angry man wash dishes; don’t let a hungry man guard rice.

4. Don’t let women who attract attention walk behind you.

5. Don’t reject the crooked road and don’t take the straight one, instead take the one traveled by the ancestors.

6. Don’t shoot people you hate; don’t lend to those you love.

7. Don’t take rich people as examples.

8. A husband should not talk of pretty girls in front of his wife.

9. Don’t take the straight path or the winding path. Take the path your ancestors have taken.

10. For news of the heart ask the face.

11. If you are doing wrong, make sure you don’t get fat from it.

12. If you are patient in a moment of anger, you will spare yourself one hundred days of tears

13. If you know a lot, know enough to make them respect you, if you are stupid, be stupid enough so they can pity you.

14. Negotiate a river by following its bends, enter a country by following its customs.

15. People give, but don’t be in a hurry to take.

16. Stealing may bring profit, but hanging costs far more.

17. The boat sails by, the shore remains.

18. The elephant that is stuck in the mud will tear down the tree with it.

19. The immature rice stalk stands erect, while the mature stalk, heavy with grain, bends over.

20. The tiger depends on the forest; the forest depends on the tiger.

21. With water make rivers, with rice make armies.

22. You can’t claim heaven as your own if you are just going to sit under it.

23. You don’t have to cut a tree down to get at the fruit.