君子能通天下之志、體天下之變，屈舒用舍唯時進退者也。故當知終之地、守知至之機，有庇人之大德，守事君之小心，雖在上位反而復守其卑。健於德、敬於人、勤於事上，終日而不懈夕。猶惕然此其道也。雖危，何咎君子所以修其德而後其身也。
《子夏易傳‧卷一‧乾下乾上》
孟子曰：「孔子登東山而小魯，登泰山而小天下。故觀於海者難為水，遊於聖人之門者難為言。觀水有術，必觀其瀾。日月有明，容光必照焉。流水之為物也，不盈科不行；君子之志於道也，不成章不達。」
《孟子‧盡心上》
江海所以能為百谷王者，以其善下之，故能為百谷王。是以聖人欲上民，必以言下之；欲先民，必以身後之。是以聖人處上而民不重，處前而民不害。是以天下樂推而不厭。以其不爭，故天下莫能與之爭。
《道德經‧六十六章》
菁菁者莪、在彼中阿。
既見君子、樂且有儀。
菁菁者莪、在彼中沚。
既見君子、我心則喜。
菁菁者莪、在彼中陵。
既見君子、錫我百朋。
汎汎楊舟、載沉載浮。
既見君子、我心則休。
《詩經‧小雅‧菁菁者莪》
風卷寒雲暮雪晴，江煙洗盡柳條輕。
簷前數片無人掃，又得書窗一夜明。
戎昱：《霽雪》
至於人之有德於我者，則志在必報，雖以聖人為有心，為私厚，不計矣。何也？聖人義重者也。義重故可以托孤，而況托知己之孤乎？義重故可以寄命，而況寄有德之命乎？故曰「以德報德」。唯其人有必報之德，此世道所以攸賴，國家所以有托，綱常所以不墜，人倫所以不滅也。
李贄：《焚書‧卷四‧八物》
蕭惠問死生之道。先生曰：「知晝夜即知死生。」問晝夜之道。曰：「知晝即知夜。」曰：「晝亦有所不知乎？」先生曰：「汝能知晝！懵懵而興，蠢蠢而食，行不著，習不察，終日昏昏，只是夢晝。惟息有養，瞬有存，此心惺惺明明，天理無一息間斷，才是能知晝。這便是天德，便是通乎晝夜之道，而知更有甚麼死生？」
王陽明：《知行錄‧傳習錄上》
至於作人之道，聖賢千言萬語，大抵不外「敬」「恕」二字。「仲弓問仁」一章，言「敬」「恕」最為親切。自此以外，如「立則見參於前也，在輿則見其倚於衡也」；「君子無眾寡，無小大，無敢慢，斯為泰而不驕；正其衣冠，儼然人望而畏，斯為威而不猛。」是皆言「敬」之最好下手者。孔言「欲立立人，欲達達人」；孟言「行有不得，反求諸已」，「以仁存心，以禮存心」，「有終身之憂，無一朝之患」。是皆言「恕」之最好下手者。爾心境明白，於「恕」字或易著功，「敬」字則直勉強行之。此立德之基，不可不謹。
曾國藩：《曾國藩家書‧咸豐八年七月二十一日諭紀澤》
横空出世，莽昆仑，阅尽人间春色。飞起玉龙三百万，搅得周天寒彻。夏日消溶，江河横溢，人或为鱼鳖。千秋功罪，谁人曾与评说？
而今我谓昆仑：不要这高，不要这多雪。安得倚天抽宝剑，把汝裁为三截？一截遗欧，一截赠美，一截还东国。太平世界，环球同此凉热。
毛泽东：《念奴娇‧昆仑》
然中國政府本身與西方傳統大有不同。西方近代一面有宗教超然於政治之外，其社會意識又常抱一種不信任政府時時欲加以監督之意態，此可謂之「契約性」的政權。中國則自來並無與政治對立之宗教，社會對政府又常抱一種尊崇心理，聖君賢相常為中國社會上一種普遍希望。因此中國政權，乃是「信託式」的，而非契約式的。與西方社會傳統意態大異。政府既接受了社會此種好意，亦必常站在自己謙抑地位，尊師重道，看重社會學術自由。政府所主持者乃制度，非學術。制度必尊重學術意見，而非學術隨制度遷轉。若政府掌握了學術是非之最高權衡，則在中國社會中，更無一項可與政府職權相抗衡之力量；此種趨勢，必滋甚大之流弊。因此政府對學術界，最好能常抱一種中立之態度，一任民間自由發展，否則必遭社會之反抗。此種反抗，實有其維繫世道最重要之作用。
錢穆：《國史新論‧中國歷史上之考試制度‧五》
问：你说及大陆方面的改革，你“当然”希望他们成功。那为什么当然？
答：在我看来中国人民有一个“公众之志愿”（General Will）在。这公众之志愿超过国民党与共产党的敌对行为，也无社会阶级之阻隔，大家都希望看到中国之富强康乐。国军的第二百师和以后扩充的第五军，是抗战期间唯一的机械化部队，前任师长、后任军长为熊笑三，他的父亲熊瑾玎即为中共党员，曾任《新华日报》的经理部长。各位看到日月潭附近为玄奘寺题字的有陆军上将徐培根，德国留学，也在国民政府里做大官。他的弟弟笔名殷夫则为共产党员，在1931年被枪毙。这种父以子继、兄终弟及的奋斗与牺牲，超过个人的人身利害。既有这公众之志愿，我就希望它早日成功。刻下看来经济改革，为完成这公众之志愿的唯一方案。
黄仁宇：《现代的展望》，1992年11月13日讲于东海大学
师法着这些先烈，当初酝酿这套丛书时，我曾在哈佛费正清中心放胆讲道：“在作者、编者和读者间初步形成的这种‘良性循环’景象，作为整个社会多元分化进程的缩影，偏巧正跟我们的国运连在一起，如果我们至少眼下尚无理由否认，今后中国历史的主要变因之一，仍然在于大陆知识阶层的一念之中，那么我们就总还有权想像，在孔老夫子的故乡，中华民族其实就靠这么写着读着，而默默修持着自己的心念，而默默挑战着自身的极限！”惟愿认同此道者日众，则华夏一族虽历经劫难，终不致因我辈而沦为文化小国。
刘东：《人文与社会译丛‧主编的话》
To be attached to the subdivisions, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed toward a love to our country and to mankind.
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
Bertrand Russell
A systems programmer will know what to do when society breaks down, because the systems programmer already lives in a world without law.
James Mickens
John asked me to play at Petra's memorial service that took place several months later, and I chose Johann Sebastian Bach's towering Chaconne, the fifth and final movement of his Solo Violin Partita in D Minor. In 1720, Bach returned home after extended travel with his employer Prince Leopold, to find Maria Barbara, his wife and the mother of his seven children, dead and already buried. Bach rarely used the chaconne dance form, and there is a theory, unsubstantiated but credible, that he composed this particular Chaconne as an expression of grief over his beloved wife's sudden and unexpected passing. I can hear Bach's anguish, even anger, in the opening notes, and feel them gradually evolve into ruminative prayer. And I sense a melancholy that begins to lift as the work surges forward to its end, bursting with hope and optimism.
Arnold Steinhardt
He starts with the harp. It makes a declaration right at the beginning of the piece of music. And then before the violin enters, the strings come in with just a fairly regular minor chord, but in such a hushed tone—there's a real kind of mystic, dark quality that can be related easily to the landscape of Scotland, the climate of Scotland. And I think he very much captures that darkness. It goes from there into something much more tumultuous and then emerges into the first of the four tunes we hear, which is 'Auld Rob Morris'. That's really a sweet tune that sounds even more sweet after all that darkness at the beginning.
Nicola Benedetti talks about Max Bruch: Scottish Fantasy in E-flat major Op. 46
A French philosopher of the last century—very famous, tough to read, but, if you plough through his works, he had a lot to say, called Jean-Paul Sartre—said to be is to act. He said all we are is the sum of our actions. And so, despite what we say, what you do is what you believe. And, frankly, everything else is just cottage cheese. Now, in government, where you spend your money is what you believe. Forget the rhetoric. Look, follow the money.
U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) at Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Department of Energy budget
Round Cullen's peak the mist is sailing,
The banshee croons her note of wailing,
Mild blue eyne with sorrow are streaming
For him that shall never return, Maccrimmon!
The breeze on the brae is mournfully blowing!
The brook in the hollow is plaintively flowing,
The warblers, the soul of the groves, are mourning,
For Maccrimmon that's gone, with no hope of returning!
The tearful clouds the stars are veiling,
The sails are spread, but the boat is not sailing,
The waves of the sea are moaning and mourning
For Maccrimmon that's gone to find no returning!
No more on the hill, at the festal meeting,
The pipe shall sound with echo repeating,
And lads and lasses change mirth to mourning
For him that is gone to know no returning!
No more, no more, no more for ever,
In war or peace, shall return Maccrimmon;
No more, no more, no more for ever
Shall love or gold bring back Maccrimmon!
Magnus Maclean, The Literature of the Highlands
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding
To feel everything in every way,
To live everything from all sides,
To be the same thing in all ways possible at the same time,
To realize in oneself all humanity at all moments
In one scattered, extravagant, complete and aloof moment.
Fernando Pessoa, A Passagem das Horas
An enlightened man had but one duty—to seek the way to himself, to reach inner certainty, to grope his way forward, no matter where it led.
Hermann Hesse, Demian
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Each one of us here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing to help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them—we can love completely without complete understanding.
Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It
Sir Humphrey Appleby
Bernard, I have served eleven governments in the past thirty years. If I had believed in all their policies, I would have been passionately committed to keeping out of the Common Market, and passionately committed to going into it. I would have been utterly convinced of the rightness of nationalising steel. And of denationalising it and renationalising it. On capital punishment, I'd have been a fervent retentionist and an ardent abolishionist. I would've been a Keynesian and a Friedmanite, a grammar school preserver and destroyer, a nationalisation freak and a privatisation maniac; but above all, I would have been a stark, staring, raving schizophrenic.
Yes Minister, S3.E6 (1982), Directed by Peter Whitmore
Colonel Slade
I'm gonna shoot you, too. Your life's finished anyway. Your friend, George, is gonna sing like a canary. And so are you. And once you've sung, Charlie, my boy, you're gonna take your place on that long, gray line of American manhood. And you will be through.
Charlie
I'd hate to disagree with you, Colonel.
Colonel Slade
You're in no position to disagree with me, boy. I got a loaded .45 here, and you got pimples. I'm gonna kill you, Charlie, 'cause I can't bear the thought of you SELLIN' OUT!
Scent of a Woman (1992), Directed by Martin Brest
Lord Varys
Power is a curious thing, my lord. Are you fond of riddles?
Tyrion Lannister
Why? Am I about to hear one?
Lord Varys
Three great men sit in a room: a king, a priest, and a rich man. Between them stands a common sellsword. Each great man bids the sellsword kill the other two. Who lives, who dies?
Tyrion Lannister
Depends on the sellsword.
Lord Varys
Does it? He has neither crown, nor gold, nor favor with the gods.
Tyrion Lannister
He has a sword, the power of life and death.
Lord Varys
But if it's swordsmen who rule, why do we pretend kings hold all the power? When Ned Stark lost his head, who was truly responsible? Joffrey? The executioner? Or something else?
Tyrion Lannister
I've decided I don't like riddles.
Lord Varys
Power resides where men believe it resides. It's a trick. A shadow on the wall. And a small man can cast a very large shadow.
Game of Thrones, S2.E3 (2012), Directed by Alik Sakharov
Michael
Which fucking side are you on, Alfie?!
Alfie
I don't give a fuck right now, kid! Right?! I do not want him to spare me because of some fucking peace pact! I want him to acknowledge that his anger is un-fucking-justified! I want him to acknowledge that he who fights by the sword, he fucking dies by it, Tommy. So, what, they took your boy, did they, yeah? They've got your boy. And what fucking line am I supposed to have crossed?! How many fathers, right? How many sons, yeah, have you cut, killed, murdered, fucking butchered, innocent and guilty? Just sent them straight to fucking hell, ain't ya?! Just like me! You fucking stand there. You, judging me, stand there and talk to me about crossing some fucking line?! If you pull that trigger, right, you pull that trigger for a fucking honourable reason, like an honourable man, not like some fucking civilian that does not understand the wicked way of our world, mate.
Michael
Look, Tommy, the killing of Alfie Solomons is not gonna help. It'll be very bad for business.
Thomas
Uh, Michael, go and call Inspector Moss. Tell him it's Palmer. Well said, Alfie. Well said.
Alfie
I did not know about your boy, though.
Thomas
I know. I saw.
Peaky Blinders, S3.E6 (2016), Directed by Tim Mielants