The severe household has no fierce slaves, while it is the affectionate mother who has the prodigal son.
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.
A filial son to his father can be a traitorous subject to his 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.
