7

The Master said, "A transmitter and not a maker, believing in and loving

the ancients, I venture to compare myself with our old P'ang."

The Master said, "The silent treasuring up of knowledge; learning without

satiety; and instructing others without being wearied:-which one of these things

belongs to me?"

The Master said, "The leaving virtue without proper cultivation; the not

thoroughly discussing what is learned; not being able to move towards

righteousness of which a knowledge is gained; and not being able to change what

is not good:-these are the things which occasion me solicitude."

When the Master was unoccupied with business, his manner was easy, and he

looked pleased.

The Master said, "Extreme is my decay. For a long time, I have not dreamed,

as I was wont to do, that I saw the duke of Chau."

The Master said, "Let the will be set on the path of duty.

"Let every attainment in what is good be firmly grasped.

"Let perfect virtue be accorded with.

"Let relaxation and enjoyment be found in the polite arts."

The Master said, "From the man bringing his bundle of dried flesh for my

teaching upwards, I have never refused instruction to any one."

The Master said, "I do not open up the truth to one who is not eager to get

knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anxious to explain himself. When I

have presented one corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it learn

the other three, I do not repeat my lesson."

When the Master was eating by the side of a mourner, he never ate to the

full.

He did not sing on the same day in which he had been weeping.

The Master said to Yen Yuan, "When called to office, to undertake its duties;

when not so called, to he retired;-it is only I and you who have attained to

this."

Tsze-lu said, "If you had the conduct of the armies of a great state, whom

would you have to act with you?"

The Master said, "I would not have him to act with me, who will unarmed

attack a tiger, or cross a river without a boat, dying without any regret. My

associate must be the man who proceeds to action full of solicitude, who is fond

of adjusting his plans, and then carries them into execution."

The Master said, "If the search for riches is sure to be successful, though

I should become a groom with whip in hand to get them, I will do so. As the

search may not be successful, I will follow after that which I love."

The things in reference to which the Master exercised the greatest caution

were-fasting, war, and sickness.

When the Master was in Ch'i, he heard the Shao, and for three months did not

know the taste of flesh. "I did not think'" he said, "that music could have been

made so excellent as this."

Yen Yu said, "Is our Master for the ruler of Wei?" Tsze-kung said, "Oh! I

will ask him."

He went in accordingly, and said, "What sort of men were Po-i and Shu-ch'i?"

"They were ancient worthies," said the Master. "Did they have any repinings

because of their course?" The Master again replied, "They sought to act

virtuously, and they did so; what was there for them to repine about?" On this,

Tsze-kung went out and said, "Our Master is not for him."

The Master said, "With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my

bended arm for a pillow;-I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches

and honors acquired by unrighteousness, are to me as a floating cloud."

The Master said, "If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to

the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults."

The Master's frequent themes of discourse were-the Odes, the History, and

the maintenance of the Rules of Propriety. On all these he frequently discoursed.

The Duke of Sheh asked Tsze-lu about Confucius, and Tsze-lu did not answer

him.

The Master said, "Why did you not say to him,-He is simply a man, who in his

eager pursuit of knowledge forgets his food, who in the joy of its attainment

forgets his sorrows, and who does not perceive that old age is coming on?"

The Master said, "I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge;

I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there."

The subjects on which the Master did not talk, were-extraordinary things,

feats of strength, disorder, and spiritual beings.

The Master said, "When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my

teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad

qualities and avoid them."

The Master said, "Heaven produced the virtue that is in me. Hwan T'ui-what

can he do to me?"

The Master said, "Do you think, my disciples, that I have any concealments?

I conceal nothing from you. There is nothing which I do that is not shown to you,

my disciples; that is my way."

There were four things which the Master taught,-letters, ethics, devotion of

soul, and truthfulness.

The Master said, "A sage it is not mine to see; could I see a man of real

talent and virtue, that would satisfy me."

The Master said, "A good man it is not mine to see; could I see a man

possessed of constancy, that would satisfy me.

"Having not and yet affecting to have, empty and yet affecting to be full,

straitened and yet affecting to be at ease:-it is difficult with such

characteristics to have constancy."

The Master angled,-but did not use a net. He shot,-but not at birds perching.

The Master said, "There may be those who act without knowing why. I do not

do so. Hearing much and selecting what is good and following it; seeing much and

keeping it in memory: this is the second style of knowledge."

It was difficult to talk profitably and reputably with the people of Hu-

hsiang, and a lad of that place having had an interview with the Master, the

disciples doubted.

The Master said, "I admit people's approach to me without committing myself

as to what they may do when they have retired. Why must one be so severe? If a

man purify himself to wait upon me, I receive him so purified, without

guaranteeing his past conduct."

The Master said, "Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo!

virtue is at hand."

The minister of crime of Ch'an asked whether the duke Chao knew propriety,

and Confucius said, "He knew propriety."

Confucius having retired, the minister bowed to Wu-ma Ch'i to come forward,

and said, "I have heard that the superior man is not a partisan. May the

superior man be a partisan also? The prince married a daughter of the house of

WU, of the same surname with himself, and called her,-'The elder Tsze of Wu.' If

the prince knew propriety, who does not know it?"

Wu-ma Ch'i reported these remarks, and the Master said, "I am fortunate! If

I have any errors, people are sure to know them."

When the Master was in company with a person who was singing, if he sang

well, he would make him repeat the song, while he accompanied it with his own

voice.

The Master said, "In letters I am perhaps equal to other men, but the

character of the superior man, carrying out in his conduct what he professes, is

what I have not yet attained to."

The Master said, "The sage and the man of perfect virtue;-how dare I rank

myself with them? It may simply be said of me, that I strive to become such

without satiety, and teach others without weariness." Kung-hsi Hwa said, "This

is just what we, the disciples, cannot imitate you in."

The Master being very sick, Tsze-lu asked leave to pray for him. He said,

"May such a thing be done?" Tsze-lu replied, "It may. In the Eulogies it is said,

'Prayer has been made for thee to the spirits of the upper and lower worlds.'"

The Master said, "My praying has been for a long time."

The Master said, "Extravagance leads to insubordination, and parsimony to

meanness. It is better to be mean than to be insubordinate."

The Master said, "The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man

is always full of distress."

The Master was mild, and yet dignified; majestic, and yet not fierce;

respectful, and yet easy.





8

The Master said, "T'ai-po may be said to have reached the highest point of

virtuous action. Thrice he declined the kingdom, and the people in ignorance of

his motives could not express their approbation of his conduct."

The Master said, "Respectfulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes

laborious bustle; carefulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes timidity;

boldness, without the rules of propriety, becomes insubordination;

straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes rudeness.

"When those who are in high stations perform well all their duties to their

relations, the people are aroused to virtue. When old friends are not neglected

by them, the people are preserved from meanness."

The philosopher Tsang being ill, he cared to him the disciples of his school,

and said, "Uncover my feet, uncover my hands. It is said in the Book of Poetry,

'We should be apprehensive and cautious, as if on the brink of a deep gulf, as

if treading on thin ice, I and so have I been. Now and hereafter, I know my

escape from all injury to my person. O ye, my little children."

The philosopher Tsang being ill, Meng Chang went to ask how he was.

Tsang said to him, "When a bird is about to die, its notes are mournful;

when a man is about to die, his words are good.

"There are three principles of conduct which the man of high rank should

consider specially important:-that in his deportment and manner he keep from

violence and heedlessness; that in regulating his countenance he keep near to

sincerity; and that in his words and tones he keep far from lowness and

impropriety. As to such matters as attending to the sacrificial vessels, there

are the proper officers for them."

The philosopher Tsang said, "Gifted with ability, and yet putting questions

to those who were not so; possessed of much, and yet putting questions to those

possessed of little; having, as though he had not; full, and yet counting

himself as empty; offended against, and yet entering into no altercation;

formerly I had a friend who pursued this style of conduct."

The philosopher Tsang said, "Suppose that there is an individual who can be

entrusted with the charge of a young orphan prince, and can be commissioned with

authority over a state of a hundred li, and whom no emergency however great can

drive from his principles:-is such a man a superior man? He is a superior man

indeed."

The philosopher Tsang said, "The officer may not be without breadth of mind

and vigorous endurance. His burden is heavy and his course is long.

"Perfect virtue is the burden which he considers it is his to sustain;-is it

not heavy? Only with death does his course stop;-is it not long?

The Master said, "It is by the Odes that the mind is aroused.

"It is by the Rules of Propriety that the character is established.

"It is from Music that the finish is received."

The Master said, "The people may be made to follow a path of action, but

they may not be made to understand it."

The Master said, "The man who is fond of daring and is dissatisfied with

poverty, will proceed to insubordination. So will the man who is not virtuous,

when you carry your dislike of him to an extreme."

The Master said, "Though a man have abilities as admirable as those of the

Duke of Chau, yet if he be proud and niggardly, those other things are really

not worth being looked at."

The Master said, "It is not easy to find a man who has learned for three

years without coming to be good."

The Master said, "With sincere faith he unites the love of learning; holding

firm to death, he is perfecting the excellence of his course.

"Such an one will not enter a tottering state, nor dwell in a disorganized

one. When right principles of government prevail in the kingdom, he will show

himself; when they are prostrated, he will keep concealed.

"When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are things to

be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honor are things to be

ashamed of."

The Master said, "He who is not in any particular office has nothing to do

with plans for the administration of its duties."

The Master said, "When the music master Chih first entered on his office,

the finish of the Kwan Tsu was magnificent;-how it filled the ears!"

The Master said, "Ardent and yet not upright, stupid and yet not attentive;

simple and yet not sincere:-such persons I do not understand."

The Master said, "Learn as if you could not reach your object, and were

always fearing also lest you should lose it."

The Master said, "How majestic was the manner in which Shun and Yu held

possession of the empire, as if it were nothing to them!

The Master said, "Great indeed was Yao as a sovereign! How majestic was he!

It is only Heaven that is grand, and only Yao corresponded to it. How vast was

his virtue! The people could find no name for it.

"How majestic was he in the works which he accomplished! How glorious in the

elegant regulations which he instituted!"

Shun had five ministers, and the empire was well governed.

King Wu said, "I have ten able ministers."

Confucius said, "Is not the saying that talents are difficult to find, true?

Only when the dynasties of T'ang and Yu met, were they more abundant than in

this of Chau, yet there was a woman among them. The able ministers were no more

than nine men.

"King Wan possessed two of the three parts of the empire, and with those he

served the dynasty of Yin. The virtue of the house of Chau may be said to have

reached the highest point indeed."

The Master said, "I can find no flaw in the character of Yu. He used himself

coarse food and drink, but displayed the utmost filial piety towards the spirits.

His ordinary garments were poor, but he displayed the utmost elegance in his

sacrificial cap and apron. He lived in a low, mean house, but expended all his

strength on the ditches and water channels. I can find nothing like a flaw in

Yu."