Yen Yuan asked about perfect virtue. The Master said, "To subdue one's self and return to propriety, is perfect virtue. If a man can for one day subdue himself and return to propriety, all under heaven will ascribe perfect virtue to him. Is the practice of perfect virtue from a man himself, or is it from others?" … The Master replied, "Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety." …
Be silent, O thou who knowest many things! for he that speaketh little will be free from reproach on the Day of Judgment. The man of many words is deaf; no counsel does he heed like silence. …
By watchfulness of the mind he concentrates his thoughts; thereby he truly practises control. By watchfulness of speech he keeps free from prevarication; thereby he enables his mind to act properly.
(A man) should elevate his self by his self; he should not debase his self, for even (a man's) own self is his friend, (a man's) own self is also his enemy. To him who has subjugated his self by his self, his self is a friend; but to him who has not restrained his self, his own self behaves inimically, like an enemy.