“Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.” – H.L. Mencken

As a follow-up to last week’s post on values for life, I thought I’d share some ancient wisdom from Confucius. It’s my favourite quote from The Analects (also available in South Africa) and I think it captures the essence of living a principled life. Clearly, the man is timeless for a reason!

“There are nine things the gentleman turns his thought to: to seeing clearly when he uses his eyes, to hearing acutely when he uses his ears, to looking cordial when it comes to his countenance, to appearing respectful when it comes to his demeanour, to being conscientious when he speaks, to being reverent when he performs his duties, to seek advice when he is in doubt, to the consequences when he is enraged, and to what is right at the sight of gain.”

(Eugene Yiga is the editor of Varsity Blah and his latest book is available free, exclusively from www.varsityblah.com/about)