1. A gentleman is likened to righteousness, and a villain is likened to profit. ——From "The Analects of Confucius: Li Ren" by Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period

Translation: A gentleman understands morality, while a villain understands interests.

2. Does the prefect of Xuancheng know that there is a blanket of one foot and a thousand taels of silk? The earth doesn't know how cold it is and people want to be warm. It rarely takes people's clothes to make lichen. ——From "The Red Thread Carpet" written by Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty

Translation: Does the prefect of Xuanzhou, who enjoys high official status and generous salary, know that weaving a one-foot-long blanket requires thousands of taels of silk? What a waste of people and money! The earth doesn't know whether it's cold or warm, but the hardworking people rely on it to survive. Don't take away the silk that the people rely on to weave clothes and keep warm to weave carpets.

3. Everyone sweeps the snow in front of their own door and doesn’t care about the frost on other people’s tiles. ——From Song Dynasty Chen Yuanliang's "Shi Lin Guang Ji· Warning Motto"

Translation: Just sweep away the snow in front of your own door. Don't worry about whether the snow on other people's roof tiles has been swept away. Specifically, don't meddle in other people's business.

4. It’s none of your business, just hang it up high. ——Modern Mao Zedong's "Against Liberalism"

Translation: Think that things have nothing to do with you, put them aside and ignore things that have nothing to do with you.

5. Seize the mud swallow's mouth, cut the iron needle, scrape the golden Buddha's face and search carefully, and find nothing. The quails are looking for peas in their crops, the egrets are chopping the fine meat from their legs, and the mosquitoes are eating fat from their bellies. It’s a shame the old man did it! ——"Drunken Taiping" Anonymous in the Yuan Dynasty

Translation: Seize the mud from the mouth of the swallow, peel the iron on the head of the needle, scrape the gold carefully on the face of the Bodhisattva, looking for something in the absence. Look for peas in the throat pouches of quails, split some meat from the legs of egrets, and extract fat from the stomachs of mosquitoes. It's a good thing that you, the old man, can do it.