“As usual, in every scheme that worsens the position of the poor, it is the poor who are invoked as beneficiaries.”

2010s, 2017, June

Act 4, sc. 5
The Devil and the Good Lord (1951)

The Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean
Context: The superior man does what is proper to the station in which he is; he does not desire to go beyond this. In a position of wealth and honor, he does what is proper to a position of wealth and honor. In a poor and low position, he does what is proper to a poor and low position. Situated among barbarous tribes, he does what is proper to a situation among barbarous tribes. In a position of sorrow and difficulty, he does what is proper to a position of sorrow and difficulty. The superior man can find himself in no situation in which he is not himself. In a high situation, he does not treat with contempt his inferiors. In a low situation, he does not court the favor of his superiors. He rectifies himself, and seeks for nothing from others, so that he has no dissatisfactions. He does not murmur against Heaven, nor grumble against men. Thus it is that the superior man is quiet and calm, waiting for the appointments of Heaven, while the mean man walks in dangerous paths, looking for lucky occurrences.

As quoted in The Observer [London] (27 December 1987)
Various interviews

Attributed in: Yuji Takahashi &quot; For Paik http://www.suigyu.com/yuji/en-text/paik.html,&quot; exhibition catalogue “ Bye-bye Nam June Paik http://www.watarium.co.jp/exhibition/0606_paik_en.html” at Watarium Museum, 2006. <br class="br">1970s

Saadi as translated in The Gulistān : Or, Rose-garden, of Shek̲h̲ Muslihu'd-dīn Sādī of Shīrāz as translated by Edward Backhouse Eastwick (1880), p. 203.
Misattributed

Acres of Diamonds (1915)

As quoted in his Excelling at Positional Chess (2003), p. 19.