» You will soon break the bow if you keep it always stretched.
» Submit to the present evil, lest a greater one befall you.
» First appearance deceives many.
» Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.
» An alliance with a powerful person is never safe.
» The mind ought sometimes to be diverted, that it may return the better to thinking.
» Whoever is detected in a shameful fraud is ever after not believed even if they speak the truth.
» The humble are in danger when those in power disagree.
» I would rather not be a king than to forfeit my liberty.
» In a change of masters the poor change nothing except their master's name.