Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 3.djvu/94

the way in which smartness of speech in men is liable to destroy kingdoms and ruin families.

If it is wrong to ignore the duties arising out of the relations between the members of a family, neither is it right to ignore the duties a man owes to his sovereign and his country. A man who withdraws himself from the world for no reason but to show his personal purity of motive, breaks up one of the basic ties of society.

In mourning the only thing indispensable is heartfelt grief.

Have no friends who are not as yourself.

In intercourse with friends do not fail in sincerity and trustworthiness.

A wise man makes friends by his taste for art and literature. He uses his friends to help him to live a moral life.

Be conscientious in what you say to a friend. Lead him on gently to what you would have him be. If you find you cannot do that, stop. Do not quarrel with him.

When directing the affairs of a great nation, a man must be serious in attention to business and faithful and punctual in his engagements. He must study economy in the public expenditure and love the welfare of the people.

If in government you depend upon laws and maintain order by enforcing those laws by punishments, you can make the people abstain from wrong-doing, but they will lose the sense of shame in wrong-doing. If, on the other hand, you depend on the moral sentiment and maintain order by encouraging education and good manners, the people will have a sense of shame for wrong-doing and will, moreover, emulate what is good.