1. Plum blossoms are less white than snow, but snow is less fragrant than plum blossoms.
——Lu Meipo's "Snow Plum Part One"
Translation: The plum blossoms make the snowflakes crystal clear and white, but the snowflakes lose the fragrance of the plum blossoms!
2. If you want to see a thousand miles away, reach a higher level.
——Wang Zhihuan's "Climbing the Stork Tower"
Translation: If you want to see enough of the scenery thousands of miles away, you have to climb to a higher tower!
3. If you don’t climb a high mountain, you don’t know how high the sky is; if you don’t go to a deep stream, you don’t know how deep the earth is; if you don’t listen to the last words of the past kings, you don’t know how great knowledge is.
——Xun Kuang's "Xunzi Encouraging Learning"