Li Ka-shing recommended to Ma Yunxian a couplet in his office. This is a poem written by Zuo Zongtang, a Confucian general in the Qing Dynasty, in the Plum Garden in Wuxi, Jiangsu:

Send a good wish and get a middle fate. Enjoy the lower blessings;

Choose a high place to stand, find a flat place to live, and walk toward a wide place.

Li Ka-shing said: These 24 words are the motto of my life:

Make a high wish - to do good to the world and help the world, as a great cause, to uphold the Tao and help the world like the Buddha.

Make a middle-range fate - all life encounters are different, keep an indifferent heart and treat them with a normal heart.

Enjoy the lower blessings - practice and cherish blessings, do not be extravagant and indulgent, cherish every porridge, every meal, every fiber.

Choose a high place to stand - keep your aspirations high, walk to high places, look to the end of the world, and take a broad view of the scenery.

Just sit on an equal footing - be steady and modest in your conduct, have an even mind, be virtuous and considerate of all directions.

Practice towards a broad place - be kind in your actions and kind in your words. To walk on a broad road, you have to be around others and be kind to others.