太宗 : "朕今所好者，惟在堯、舜之道，周、孔之教，以為如鳥有翼，如魚依水，失之必死，不可暫無耳。」
Tai-chung : "What I love are the ways of the two ancient kings, and the teachings of Confucius from the Chow Dynasty. Their teachings are like wings to a bird, water to a fish, that death will follow without them. We mustn't depart from these teachings even for a moment."
太宗："朕每思出一言，行一事，必上畏皇天，下懼群臣。 天高聽卑，何得不畏？ 群公卿士，皆見瞻仰，何得不懼？ 以此思之，但知常謙常懼，猶恐不稱天心及百姓意也。"
Tai-chung : "Before I speak a word, or do an act, I would fear the Heavenly King above, and fear my officers below.
High Heaven hears the complaint from lowly people, then why should I not fear.
Moreover, what I do are under the eyes of all my officers, then why should I not fear.
Therefore I humble myself always, and keep fear (of Heaven, of doing wrong) in my heart always, for fear that what I do would not be in accord with the Will of Heaven, nor in accord with the will of the people."
太宗 : "朕每閒居靜坐，則自內省，恆恐上不稱天心，下為百姓所怨。"
Tai-chung : "Whenever I am free at home, I would search my heart, for fear that what I do would displease Heaven, or bring troubles to the people that they grumble against me."
魏徵 : "昔黃帝與蚩尤七十余戰，其亂甚矣，既勝之後，便致太平。九黎亂德，顓頊征之，既克之後，不失其化。桀為亂虐，而湯放之，在湯之代，既致太平。紂為無道，武王伐之，成王之代，亦致太平。"
(Translation omitted for this.) Emperor Tai-chung and his officers were discussing whether they should put in drastic measures of reviving the ancient teachings of Confucius, because it had been neglected for so long.
They were undecided whether gradual change or drastic change should be adopted.
Ngai-ching, one of his officers, quoted many instances from ancient China (4 instances) that peace would come quickly even after lengthy period of wars and chaos, if teachings of our forefathers were put in place (widespread education of teachings from our forefathers).
Tai-chung listened to his advice, and in a very short time, peace came with orderliness.
王珪 對 太宗 的話 : "漢家宰相，無不精通一經，朝廷若有疑事，皆引經決定，由是人識禮教，治致太平。近代重武輕儒，或參以法律，儒行既虧，淳風大壞。"
Wong-kwai's (an officer under Tai-chung) advice to Tai-chung : "During the Han Dynasty, all the officers were familiar with the classics (of Confucius). When important decisions were to be made, they would consult the classics.
Therefore all the people became familiar with what our forefathers taught, that they became courteous and educated. There was peace throughout all the land.
But today, people put more emphasis on the use of force, inter-mingled with punishment for breaking the laws. Therefore they suffered in the teachings of our fore-fathers, and moral becomes bad."
魏徵 : "民相愛，則無相傷害之意；動思義，則無畜奸邪之心。若此，非律令之所理也，此乃教化之所致也。"
Ngai-ching (an officer under Emperor Tai-chung) : "If people love one another, they would not think of hurting each other. If before every action, they would think of righteousness, then those beastly thoughts, treacherous thoughts, evil thoughts, ... would not come.
To achieve this, it is not through law and punishment, but through education."
太宗： "朕看古來帝王以仁義為治者，國祚延長，任法御人者，雖救弊於一時，敗亡亦促。"
Tai-chung : "According to my own observation, that ancient kings who ruled in righteousness, his rule would be prolonged. But if he ruled with law, that restrict people through punishment, which may be effective for a while, but his reign would not be long, and ruin came quickly."
太宗 : "夫不學，則不明古道，而能政致太平者，未之有也。"
Tai-chung : "If a person does not learn, he would not understand the ancient way. For a person who understands not the ancient ways to enter politics and bring peace to the people, that sure would not happen."
(Note : Emperor Tai-chung set up some 400 schools, to educate people in the Confucius classics.
Throughout history, whether it be the history of the Israelites (the Bible), or the history of the native Americans (Book of Mormon), or Chinese history, they all point to one fact -- that if the people do righteousness, GOD would send blessings; otherwise GOD would send curses and there come the ruin of the people. People would not know righteousness if there is no moral education).
太宗 : "上智之人，自無所染，但中智之人無恆，從教而變."
Tai-chung : "Those who are of sound intellect would not be influenced by surrounding filths. But for those of average intellect, they have no constancy. They would change according to what they are educated."
太宗為教導他的眾子, 輯了一本書, 名叫《自古諸侯王善惡錄》. 在序中他說 : "故知善不積不足以成名，惡不積不足以滅身。然則禍福無門，吉凶由己，惟人所召，豈徒言哉！"
Tai-chung compiled a book, titled "The good and evil deeds of kings since antiquity" for the education of his children.
In the preface, he said, "Therefore we know that if we do not accumulate good deeds, renown will not come. Also, if we do not accumulate evil deeds, destruction/death will not come.
Blessing and curse is not predetermined, it is our deeds that bring blessing or curse. These words are true."
太宗："人皆知畏避災害，不知行仁義則災害不生。"
Tai-chung : "People know that if disasters come, they should flee. Yet they know not that if they practice righteousness, disasters will not come."
(太宗論兆頭, 信邪, 等等) 太宗："且君天下者，惟須正身修德而已，此外虛事，不足在懷。"
(Tai-chung's opinion on augury, on the appearance of comet, etc.) Tai-chung : "For a king to govern the land, he should think of conducting himself in a righteous way, and learn righteousness.
Augury etc. are vain things, that we should not put them to mind."
魏徵 : "君子掩人之惡，揚人之善，臨難無苟免，殺身以成仁。小人不恥不仁，不畏不義，惟利之所在，危人自安。夫苟在危人，則何所不至？"
Ngai-ching (an officer under Emperor Tai-hung) : "A righteous person would not talk about the bad deed of others, but talk about their good deeds. A righteous person would give up his life for righteousness. Whereas a base person has no shame nor decency. A base person fears not doing unrighteousness. He has an eye only for his own personal gain. He would endanger others in order to save his own life. If he would endanger others to save himself, what else would he not do ?"
前史云："直臣立朝廷，奸邪為之寢謀。"
Ancient Chinese historical writing : "When an upright and righteous officer stands in the king's court, the evil, the wicked would day and night plot against his downfall. They would plot against his downfall even when going to sleep !"
褚遂良 : "得一善人，部內蘇息；遇一不善人，闔州勞弊。"
Chu-shu-leung (an officer under Emperor Tai-chung) : "When an righteous is put to rule, the state has peace and rest. But when we put an unrighteous to rule, the whole state would be troubled."
太宗："天下愚人者多，智人者少，智者不肯為惡，愚人好犯憲章。凡赦宥之恩，惟及不軌之輩。古語云：『小人之幸，君子之不幸。』 『一歲再赦，善人喑啞。』凡『養稂莠者傷禾稼，惠奸宄者賊良人』。昔『文王作罰，刑茲無赦。』又蜀先主嘗謂諸葛亮曰：『吾周旋陳元方、鄭康成之間，每見啟告理亂之道備矣，曾不語赦。』故諸葛亮治蜀十年不赦，而蜀大化。梁武帝每年數赦，卒至傾敗。夫謀小仁者，大仁之賊。故我有天下以來，絕不放赦。今四海安寧，禮義興行，非常之恩，彌不可數，將恐愚人常冀僥倖，惟欲犯法，不能改過。」
Tai-chung (on pardons) : "Those of unsound intellect are much more than those of sound intellect. Those of sound intellect would not do evil. Those of unsound intellect love to break the laws.
When we show pardons, we fear letting go those who sin high-handedly.
Our forefathers said :
"Mercy to the base fellow is cruelty to the righteous".
"If we show pardons repeatedly, the righteous would fade away and would not speak."
"Keeping the weed would hurt the wheat, kind to the wicked is cruelty to the righteous".
King of the Chow dynasty showed no pardons, but punished the wicked.
Also, King of the Sze-chung told his officer Chu-kwok-leung : "I travelled widely around many provinces, and observed what makes for lawfulness and what makes for lawlessness, therefore I never talk about pardons." After the king died, his officer Chu-kwok-leung assumed his place, and he showed no pardons. In just 10 years, there was peace and lawfulness throughout the region of Sze-chung.
King of Leung showed pardons several times a year, and his kingdom faced downfall eventually.
When we speak of mercy to the wicked, we are being cruel to the righteous.
Therefore, when I rule, I pardon not.
See, now, everywhere it is peace. People practice righteousness and are courteous to one another. Virtues among people are too many to be counted.
The fools have a mind that their wickedness would not be punished, therefore they high-handedly break the laws, and would not correct themselves."
(Note : compare the Bible, how LORD ruled the Israelites 40 years in the wilderness after they left Egypt. LORD would not be hesitant to put those who sin high-handedly to death. There are different degrees of wrong -- guilt, sin, breaking the laws high-handedly.
What our ancient kings did was what LORD did : widespread moral education, and strict enforcement of the laws to those who break the laws high-handedly.)
深惡官吏貪濁，有枉法受財者，必無赦免。在京流外有犯贓者，皆遣執奏，隨其所犯，置以重法。由是官吏多自清謹。制馭王公、妃主之家，大姓豪猾之伍，皆畏威屏跡，無敢侵欺細人。商旅野次，無復盜賊，囹圄常空，馬牛布野，外戶不閉。
(This described the situation under the rule of Tai-chung)
Tai-chung hated those officers who took bribes, who perverted justice because of bribes. He would never pardon them.
For those who took bribes to pervert justice, even where they were far from the capital, he would summoned them back and punished them according to their crimes.
Because of this, his officers would fear to take bribes.
Therefore he put a rein on the powerful families, and those who were rich and powerful. They feared and retreated, and dared not oppress the weak and poor.
Because of this, there were no robbers in the wilderness, the prisons were always empty, the horses and cattles were in the grassland without fear of being stolen, and people would not close their doors, for no one would steal.
(Note : in China, ever since antiquity, administration of justice is free of charge, no court nor lawyer's fees. People just went to the officer's office, and justice was dispensed quickly. The officers judged according to the moral teachings of Confucius, and the current laws. Laws were interpreted not as the Western lawyers do where they find faults with words and pervert true justice.)
太宗 : "觀古人君，行仁義、任賢良則理；行暴亂、任小人則敗。"
Tai-chung : "I observe the ancient kings. If they practice righteousness, and if they appoint only the righteous to governing positions, then they bring peace and orderliness to the place. But if they practice cruelty and force, and appoint base fellows to governing positions, they bring ruin to themselves."
太宗 : "但朕年十八便舉兵，年二十四定天下，年二十九升為天子，此則武勝於古也。少從戎旅，不暇讀書，貞觀以來，手不釋卷，知風化之本，見政理之源。行之數年，天下大治而風移俗變，子孝臣忠，此又文過於古也。"
Tai-chung : "I raised an army when I was 18. When I was 24, I subdued the world. When I reached 29, I became king. What my army achieved is greater than that of my ancestors.
As I was in the army at an very early age, I did not have time to read.
But once I was enthroned, books never depart from my hand.
From the books, I know what makes for a morally good society, what brings lawfulness to a society.
I practiced these. And in just a few years, there is peace throughout all the land. The moral of the people become good. Children become obedient to their parents, and officers show loyalty to their superiors. What I achieve in the civil side is greatter than that of my ancestors."
(Note : Tai-chung followed his father to rise against the wicked king before them at the age of 18).