Fukuzawa Yukichi 福沢諭吉

1872 · Meiji Japan

"Heaven does not make one person above another, nor one person below another," it is said.

天は人の上に人を造らず人の下に人を造らずと言えり。

An Encouragement of Learning (Gakumon no susume), the opening

In the same thread

c. 20th century BC · ancient Egypt · Sending his son to the school for scribes

I would that thou wouldst love Learning as thou lovest thy mother. I wish I were able to make thee to see how beautiful Learning is.

"The Teaching of Duauf for His Son Pepi" · in place of the original: the English translation by E. A. Wallis Budge (1914)

1894 · Missouri, USA · Connecticut

Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.

Pudd'nhead Wilson, a chapter epigraph from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar"

1914 · Meiji–Taisho Japan · Words the young K throws at his friend

Anyone without the will to better himself in spirit is a fool.

精神的に向上心のないものは馬鹿だ

Kokoro

late 15th century · Florence · Milan

Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrifies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it is kept in use.

From his notebooks · in place of the original: the English translation edited by J. P. Richter (1883)

early 8th century · Tang China

The white sun sinks behind the hills. The Yellow River flows into the sea. To see a thousand li further, climb one more storey.

白日依山盡，黃河入海流。欲窮千里目，更上一層樓。

"Climbing Stork Tower"