  天下有二难登天难求人更难， 人间有二苦黄连苦贫穷更苦， 天下有二险江湖险人心更险， 人间有二薄春冰薄人情更薄; 知其难守其苦测其险忍其薄， 可以处世矣。 Translation: Under heaven are two difficult things: to ascend the sky is difficult, to beg people even more so. In the human realm are two bitter things: Huanglian(1) is bitter, poverty even more so. Under heaven are two dangerous things: Jianghu(2) is dangerous, human hearts even more so. In the human realm are two thin/fragile/false things: spring ice thin/fragile/false, humanity/humankindness even more so. Know these difficulties, bear these bitternesses, foresee these dangers and bearing these falsenesses, Only then can you do great things.
(1) Huanglian is a sort of medicine, particularly bitter. (2) Jianghu is the world of itinerant martial artists who go about brawling. it's a bit like the underworld. This came from a piece of calligraphy which hangs at home - it's cynical, but true. The sooner these lessons are learned, the better. I know it's in the crappy simplified characters which i hate, but I'm still learning how to input Chinese into the computer... 
