On Greed and Meanness論貪鄙第二十六
貞觀初，太宗謂侍臣曰：「人有明珠，莫不貴重。若以彈雀，豈非可惜？況人之性命甚於明珠，見金錢財帛不懼刑網，徑即受納，乃是不惜性命。明珠是身外之物，尚不可彈雀，何況性命之重，乃以博財物耶？群臣若能備盡忠直，益國利人，則官爵立至。皆不能以此道求榮，遂妄受財物，贓賄既露，其身亦殞，實可為笑。帝王亦然。恣情放逸，勞役無度，信任群小，疏遠忠正，有一於此，豈不滅亡？隋煬帝奢侈自賢，身死匹夫之手，亦為可笑。」
At the beginning of Zhenguan Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"When a man has a bright pearl, there is none who does not hold it precious and weighty. If he shot sparrows with it, would that not be a pity? A man's life is worth more than a bright pearl, and yet men see money and goods and silk and do not fear the net of punishment and take them at once, which is to hold their own lives cheap. A bright pearl is a thing outside the body, and even so it must not be used to shoot sparrows. How much less should the weight of life be traded for goods?
"If the ministers can be complete in loyalty and straightness and can profit the state and benefit the people, then office and rank come to them at once. Not one of them can seek glory by that way, and so they recklessly take goods, and once the bribe is out in the open their persons perish as well. It is truly a thing to laugh at.
"With emperors and kings it is the same. They give free rein to their feelings and idle at will, they set men to labor without measure, they trust and employ the crowd of petty men and keep the loyal and the upright far off. With only one of these, how should a man not be destroyed? Emperor Yang of Sui was extravagant and called himself worthy, and his person died at the hands of a common fellow. That too is a thing to laugh at."
貞觀二年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「朕嘗謂貪人不解愛財也。至如內外官五品以上，祿秩優厚，一年所得，其數自多。若受人財賄，不過數萬。一朝彰露，祿秩削奪，此豈是解愛財物？規小得而大失者也。昔公儀休性嗜魚，而不受人魚，其魚長存。且為主貪，必喪其國；為臣貪，必亡其身。《詩》云：『大風有隧，貪人敗類。』固非謬言也。昔秦惠王欲伐蜀，不知其徑，乃刻五石牛，置金其後，蜀人見之，以為牛能便金。蜀王使五丁力士拖牛入蜀，道成。秦師隨而伐之，蜀國遂亡。漢大司農田延年贓賄三千萬，事覺自死。如此之流，何可勝記！朕今以蜀王為元龜，卿等亦須以延年為覆轍也。
In the second year of Zhenguan Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"I have always held that a greedy man does not know how to love wealth. Officials of the fifth rank and above, within the palace and without, have ample and generous salary and emolument, and what they get in a year is of itself a great sum. Even if they take goods and bribes from others, it does not pass a few tens of thousands. But once it comes out in a single morning, their salary and emolument are cut away and taken from them. How is this knowing how to love wealth? It is planning for a small gain and taking a great loss.
"Long ago Gongyi Xiu by nature loved fish, but he took no fish from others, and so his fish lasted long. Moreover, a lord who is greedy is sure to lose his state, and a minister who is greedy is sure to ruin his own person. The Book of Songs says, 'The great wind has its course; the greedy man brings his kind to ruin.' This is truly no mistaken word.
"Long ago King Hui of Qin wished to attack Shu but did not know the road there, so he carved five stone oxen and placed gold behind them. The men of Shu saw it and thought the oxen passed gold. The king of Shu sent five strong men to drag the oxen into Shu, and a road was made. The army of Qin followed after and attacked, and the state of Shu perished. Tian Yannian, the grand minister of agriculture of Han, had thirty million in bribes, and when the matter came to light he killed himself. How could all of that sort be written down? I now take the king of Shu as my great tortoise shell of divination, and you too must take Yannian as an overturned wheel track."
貞觀四年，太宗謂公卿曰：「朕終日孜孜，非但憂憐百姓，亦欲使卿等長守富貴。天非不高，地非不厚，朕常兢兢業業，以畏天地。卿等若能小心奉法，常如朕畏天地，非但百姓安寧，自身常得歡樂。古人云：『賢者多財損其志，愚者多財生其過。』此言可為深誡。若徇私貪濁，非止壞公法，損百姓，縱事未發聞，中心豈不常懼？恐懼既多，亦有因而致死。大丈夫豈得茍貪財物，以害及身命，使子孫每懷愧恥耶？卿等宜深思此言。」
In the fourth year of Zhenguan Taizong said to the high ministers:
"That I work hard the whole day long is not only because I am anxious for the people and pity them. It is also that I would have you keep wealth and honor long. Heaven is not other than high, and earth is not other than thick, and I am always careful and watchful and in awe of Heaven and earth. If you can be careful and uphold the law, always as I am in awe of Heaven and earth, then not only will the people be at peace, but your own persons will always have joy and gladness.
"The men of old said, 'When a worthy man has much wealth it lessens his purpose; when a foolish man has much wealth it breeds his faults.' These words may be taken as a deep warning. If a man follows his private ends and is greedy and muddied, he not only ruins the law of the state and harms the people. Even if the matter has not yet come out and been heard, how should his heart within not always be afraid? And when his fear has grown great, there are those who come to death by it as well. How should a great man greedily snatch at goods, so that harm reaches his person and his life and his sons and grandsons carry shame always? You ought to think deeply on these words."
貞觀六年，右衛將軍陳萬福自九成宮赴京，違法取驛家麩數石。太宗賜其麩，令自負出以恥之。
In the sixth year of Zhenguan Chen Wanfu, the general of the right guard, went from the Jiucheng Palace to the capital, and against the law he took several bushels of bran from a post station house. Taizong granted him the bran and had him carry it out on his own back, to shame him.
貞觀十年，治書侍御史權萬紀上言：「宣、饒二州諸山大有銀坑，采之極是利益，每歲可得錢數百萬貫。」太宗曰：「朕貴為天子，是事無所少之。惟須納嘉言，進善事，有益於百姓者。且國家剩得數百萬貫錢，何如得一有才行人？不見卿推賢進善之事，又不能按舉不法，震肅權豪，惟道稅鬻銀坑以為利益。昔堯、舜抵璧於山林，投珠於淵谷，由是崇名美號，見稱千載。後漢桓、靈二帝好利賤義，為近代庸暗之主。卿遂欲將我比桓、靈耶？」是日敕放令萬紀還第。
In the tenth year of Zhenguan Quan Wanji, the attending censor in charge of documents, reported:
"In the mountains of the two prefectures of Xuanzhou and Raozhou there are great silver pits, and to mine them would be most profitable. Several million strings of cash could be had every year."
Taizong said:
"In honor I am the Son of Heaven, and in such a matter there is nothing I lack. What is needed is only to take in fine words and to bring forward good deeds that profit the people. And how is it the same for the state to gain several million strings of cash as to gain one man of ability and conduct?
"I do not see you pushing worthy men forward and bringing good men on, nor are you able to look into unlawful doings and lay them bare and so make the powerful and the strong tremble and grow sober. You speak only of taxing and selling the silver pits for profit. Long ago Yao and Shun threw their jade away in the mountains and forests and cast their pearls into the deeps and the valleys, and by this their high name and their fine repute have been spoken of for a thousand years. The two emperors Huan and Ling of the Later Han loved profit and held right cheap, and they became the worthless and benighted lords of recent ages. Would you then set me beside Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling?"
That day, by imperial order, Wanji was let go and sent home.
貞觀十六年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「古人云『鳥棲於林，猶恐其不高，復巢於木末；魚藏於水，猶恐其不深，復穴於窟下。然而為人所獲者，皆由貪餌故也。』今人臣受任，居高位，食厚祿，當須履忠正，蹈公清，則無災害，長守富貴矣。古人云：『禍福無門，惟人所召。』然陷其身者，皆為貪冒財利，與夫魚鳥何以異哉？卿等宜思此語為鑒誡。」
In the sixteenth year of Zhenguan Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"The men of old said, 'Though a bird roosts in the forest, still it fears the place is not high and makes its nest again at the tip of a tree; though a fish hides in the water, still it fears the water is not deep and digs a hole again beneath a cave. And yet they are caught by men, and it is all because they coveted the bait.'
"Now when a minister receives a charge and holds a high place and eats a thick salary, he must tread loyalty and uprightness and walk in fairness and purity, and then there is no calamity or harm and he keeps wealth and honor long. The men of old said, 'Calamity and blessing have no gate of their own; they come only as a man calls them.' Yet those who sink their own persons have all coveted goods and profit and pressed after them. How do they differ from those fish and birds? You ought to think on these words and take them as a mirror and a warning."