“Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be entrusted with it.”

“Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in the foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him, and yet that person is preserved.”

“To consider this desirable would be to delight in the slaughter of men; and he who delights in the slaughter of men cannot get his will in the kingdom.”

“He who would so win it destroys it; he who would hold it in his grasp loses it.”

“he who asserts his own views is not distinguished;”

“Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same kind).”

“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.”