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When you are but slightly involved in the world, the effect the world has on you is also slight. When you are deeply enmeshed in affairs, you machinations also deepen. So for enlightened people simplicity is better than refinement, and freedom is better than punctiliousness.

Zicheng Hong

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Zicheng Hong
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More quotes by Zicheng Hong

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A thousand pieces of gold may hardly bring a moment's happiness, but a small favor can cause a lifetime's gratitude. Too much love can turn to enmity, while aloofness can produce joy.
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Those who live simply are often pure, while those who live luxuriously may be slavish and servile. It seems that the will is clarified by plainness, while conduct is ruined by indulgence.
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Those who have come to an impasse should examine their original intentions those who have succeeded should note where they are heading.
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When those who give charity do so without any sense of self-satisfaction and without any thought of reward, even a small gift is great. When those who aid others calculate their own sacrifice and demand gratitude and recompense, even a great gift is small.
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Those who trust others will find that not everyone is necessarily sincere, but they will be sincere themselves. Those who suspect others will find that not everyone is necessarily deceiving them, but they have already become deceivers themselves.
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Desires that are just are termed Truth. Without desires, Truth cannot be understood.
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When one is not slipshod in small matters, not hypocritical in secret, and not reckless in disappointment, only then is one a true hero.
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Those who are broad-minded and considerate are like the spring breeze, warm and nurturing, at show touch all being grow. Those who are envious an d cruel are like the snow of the northlands, stilling and freezing, at whose touch all beings die.
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Even if you do no work that is particularly lofty or far-reaching, if you can shed mundane feelings, that is a great achievement. Even if you do not strive much for progress in learning, if you can minimize the influence things have on you, you will soar into the realm of sages.
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Generosity should begin lightly and deepen later, fro when it is first rich and then lessens, people forget the kindness. Authority should begin strictly and loosen up later, for if it is loose first and then strict, people will resent the severity.
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Those in public office who do not love the people are thieves stealing salaries. Those who teach but do not themselves practice what they teach are mere talkers. Those who try to do successful work without considering development of character will find it insubstantial.
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If you fear that people will know if you do something bad, then there is something good in bad. If you are eager for people to know when you do something good, then there is something bad in good.
Zicheng Hong
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People know that fame and position are pleasant, but they do not know that the pleasure of anonymity is most real. People know that hunger and cold are distressing, but they do not know that the distress of not experiencing cold or hunger is greater.
Zicheng Hong
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After one has been in a lowly position, one knows how dangerous it is to climb to a high place, Once one has been in the dark, one knows how revealing it is to go into the light. Having maintained quietude, one knows how tiring compulsive activity is. Having nurtured silence, one knows how disturbing much talk is.
Zicheng Hong
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A net set up to catch fish may snare a duck a mantis hunting an insect may itself be set upon by a sparrow. Machinations are hidden within machinations changes arise beyond changes. So how can wit and cleverness be relied upon?
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In dealing with good people one should be magnanimous in dealing with bad people one should be strict. In dealing with average people one should combine magnanimity and strictness.
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To get rid of villains and knaves, it is necessary to give them a way out. If you don't give them any leeway at all, they will be like trapped rats. If every way out is closed to them, they will chew up everything good.
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When the liver is diseased, the eyesight fails when the kidneys are diseased, the hearing is adversely affected. The disease is not visible, but its effects are. Therefore, enlightened people, wishing to be free from obvious faults, first get rid of hidden faults.
Zicheng Hong
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Our body is a small universe to regulate emotions and feelings is a way of harmonization.
Zicheng Hong
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Those who act on excitement act intermittently this is hardly the way to avoid regression. Those whose understanding comes from emotional perceptions are as confused as they are enlightened this is not a lamp that is constantly bright.
Zicheng Hong