The highest study of all is that which teaches us to develop those
principles of purity and perfect virtue which Heaven bestowed upon
us at our birth, in order that we may acquire the power of
influencing for good those amongst whom we are placed, by our
precepts and example; a study without an end--for our labors cease
only when we have become perfect--an unattainable goal, but one
that we must not the less set before us from the very first. It is
true that we shall not be able to reach it, but in our struggle
toward it we shall strengthen our characters and give stability to
our ideas, so that, whilst ever advancing calmly in the same
direction, we shall be rendered capable of applying the faculties
with which we have been gifted to the best possible account.
--_"The Annals" of Confucius_