XXI
The Master said, “Since I cannot get men pursuing the due medium, to whom I might communicate my instructions, I must find the ardent and the cautiously-decided. The ardent will advance and lay hold of truth; the cautiously-decided will keep themselves from what is wrong.”
XXII
The Master said, “The people of the south have a saying—‘A man without constancy cannot be either a wizard or a doctor.’ Good!
“Inconstant in his virtue, he will be visited with disgrace.”
The Master said, “This arises simply from not attending to the prognostication.”
XXIII
The Master said, “The superior man is affable, but not adulatory; the mean man is adulatory, but not affable.”
XXIV
Tsze-kung asked, saying, “What do you say of a man who is loved by all the people of his neighborhood?” The Master replied, “We may not for that accord our approval of him.” “And what do you say of him who is hated by all the people of his neighborhood?” The Master said, “We may not for that conclude that he is bad. It is better than either of these cases that the good in the neighborhood love him, and the bad hate him.”
XXV
The Master said, “The superior man is easy to serve and difficult to please. If you try to please him in any way which is not accordant with right, he will not be pleased. But in his employment of men, he uses them according to their capacity. The mean man is difficult to serve, and easy to please. If you try to please him, though it be in a way which is not accordant with right, he may be pleased. But in his employment of men, he wishes them to be equal to everything.”
XXVI
The Master said, “The superior man has a dignified ease without pride. The mean man has pride without a dignified ease.”
XXVII
The Master said, “The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.”
XXVIII
Tsze-lû asked, saying, “What qualities must a man possess to entitle him to be called a scholar?” The Master said, “He must be thus—earnest, urgent, and bland:—among his friends, earnest and urgent; among his brethren, bland.”
XXIX
The Master said, “Let a good man teach the people seven years, and they may then likewise be employed in war.”
XXX
The Master said, “To lead an uninstructed people to war, is to throw them away.”
Book XIV
Hsien Wǎn
I
Hsien asked what was shameful. The Master said, “When good government prevails in a state, to be thinking only of salary; and, when bad government prevails, to be thinking, in the same way, only of salary;—this is shameful.”
II
“When the love of superiority, boasting, resentments, and covetousness are repressed, this may be deemed perfect virtue.”
The Master said, “This may be regarded as the achievement of what is difficult. But I do not know that it is to be deemed perfect virtue.”
III
The Master said, “The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.”
IV
The Master said, “When good government prevails in a state, language may be lofty and bold, and actions the same. When bad government prevails, the actions may be lofty and bold, but the language may be with some reserve.”
V
The Master said, “The virtuous will be sure to speak correctly, but those whose speech is good may not always be virtuous. Men of principle are sure to be bold, but those who are bold may not always be men of principle.”
VI
Nan-kung Kwo, submitting an inquiry to Confucius, said, “Î was skillful at archery, and Âo could move a boat along upon the land, but neither of them died a natural death. Yü and Chî personally wrought at the toils of husbandry, and they became possessors of the kingdom.” The Master made no reply; but when Nan-kung Kwo went out, he said, “A superior man indeed is this! An esteemer of virtue indeed is this!”
VII
The Master said, “Superior men, and yet not always virtuous, there have been, alas! But there never has been a mean man, and, at the same time, virtuous.”
VIII
The Master said, “Can there be love which does not lead to strictness with its object? Can there be loyalty which does not lead to the instruction of its object?”
IX
The Master said, “In preparing the governmental notifications, P’î Shǎn first made the rough draft; Shî-shû examined and discussed its contents; Tsze-yü, the manager of Foreign intercourse, then polished the style; and, finally, Tsze-ch’ân of Tung-li gave it the proper elegance and finish.”
X
Someone asked about Tsze-ch’ân. The Master said, “He was a kind man.”
He asked about Tsze-hsî. The Master said, “That man! That man!”
He asked about Kwan Chung. “For him,” said the Master, “the city of Pien, with three hundred families, was taken from the chief of the Po family, who did not utter a murmuring word, though, to the end of his life, he had only coarse rice to eat.”
XI
The Master said, “To be poor without murmuring is difficult. To be rich without being proud is easy.”
XII
The Master said, “Mǎng Kung-ch’o is more than fit to be chief officer in the families of Châo and Wei, but he is not fit to be great officer to either of the States T’ǎng or Hsieh.”
XIII
Tsze-lû asked what constituted a complete man. The Master said, “Suppose a man with the knowledge of Tsǎng
