Three Precious Things

"While all the world says I am great, I am, to all appearance, an incompetent creature. But, indeed, if I am great, I appear, for this very reason, to be an incompetent creature. Those who come up to the (vulgar) standard have existed for a long time as small men. As for me, I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is called compassion, the second is called economy, and the third is called not daring to take the precedence of the world (humility). Being compassionate, I can therefore be brave. Being economical, I can therefore be liberal. Not daring to take the precedence of the world, I can therefore become the chief of all the perfect ones. But in the present day men give up compassion and cultivate only courage. They give up economy and aim only at liberality. They give up the last place and only seek the first. It is their death. Compassion is that which is victorious in the attack, and secure in the defence. When Heaven, would save a man, it encircles him with compassion."