The people in the well-ordered ages of the past upheld the public law and abandoned private strategies; they focused their intentions and unified their conduct. Everything they did was for the sake of being employed by the ruler.

The intelligent ruler does not value people who are of themselves good without rewards and punishments. Why is that? The laws of the state cannot be neglected, and it is not one man who is being ruled.

The Way of an enlightened ruler is to make it so that no minister may make a proposal and then fail to match it with actions and results.

A ruler makes use of the majority and neglects the minority, and so he does not devote himself to virtue but to law.

The duties of the ruler are like those of the helmsman of a great ship. From his lofty position, he makes slight movements with his hands, and the ship, of itself, follows his desires and moves. This is the way whereby the one may control the ten thousand and by quiescence may regulate activity.