1. Don’t lose your righteousness when you see benefit, don’t guard against it when you see death. ——"Book of Rites? Confucianism" written by the seventy-two disciples of Confucius and his students during the Spring and Autumn Period

Translation: Don't do things that are detrimental to righteousness when you see financial gain, rather sacrifice your own life , and never change one's own aspirations.

2. Don’t betray by being poor, and don’t change your ambition by being humble. ——Huan Wan of the Han Dynasty, "Salt and Iron Theory: Vast Territory"

Translation: Don't change your integrity because of poverty, and don't change your ambitions because of your low status.

3. Just die in the grass without asking for a life under a golden cage. ——Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty, "Yuefu Miscellanies·Persuasion Songs·Pheasant Class"

Translation: I would rather die an upright death in the grass than live in humiliation in a cage made of gold.

4. Wealth and honor cannot lead to adultery, poverty and lowliness cannot move, and power cannot bend. ——Mencius and his disciples during the Warring States Period, "Mencius·Teng Wen Gong"

Translation: When you are rich and powerful, you can control yourself and avoid squandering; when you are poor and lowly, you should not change your will; when you are powerful, you should not make mistakes. This is what a man is doing.

5. Don’t be afraid of being shattered into pieces, but keep your innocence in the world. ——Ming Yuqian's "Ode to Lime"

Translation: Even if your body is broken into pieces, you are not afraid, and you are willing to leave your innocence in the world.

6. It is better to be broken jade than to be intact. ——Li Baiyao of Tang Dynasty, "Book of Northern Qi·Yuan Jing'an Biography"

Translation: It is better to make jade and be broken than to make earthenware and keep it.

7. Do not move for benefit or for threats. ——Modern Huang Xing's "Speech of Thanks at the Welcome Meeting for Members of Congress in Asia"

Translation: Not to be touched by interests, not to be coerced by power.

8. Money is like dung, but kindness is worth a thousand pieces of gold. ——"Killing Dogs" by Xu Xia of the Ming Dynasty

Translation: Treat money as contemptible as dung, and regard benevolence and righteousness as precious as a thousand ingots of gold and silver.