In ancient China, the keeper of the Imperial Library, Lao Tzu, was famous for his wisdom. Perceiving the growing corruption of the government, he left for the countryside. On his way, the guard at the city gates asked Lao Tzu to write out the essence of his understanding to benefit future generations. Lao Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching, left, and was never heard of again.
The Tao Te Ching (also called "The Tao", "The Dao" or the "Dao De Jing"), by Lao Tzu, is one of the most influential books in history. It is the source of famous Chinese sayings such as "Those who know do not speak, those who speak, do not know" and "Even a 1,000 mile journey starts with a single step".

If the people are free of avarice and desire,
even the most cunning grifter has no opportunity to corrupt them.
-Lao Tzu

It seems there was once a man that who loved dragons so much, he put dragon pictures and sculptures all over his house. The Dragon King was very impressed, so he sent one of his dragons down to say hello to the man and thank him for his efforts. The dragon politely knocked on the front door. When the dragon-lover opened the door, he promptly died of a heart attack!
The moral is, of course, to ensure you can act as well as you can speak.

If you don't trust people,
people will not trust you.