[1]  

THE MASTER said: “In learning and straightway practising is there not pleasure also? When friends gather round from afar do we not rejoice? Whom lack of fame cannot vex is not he a gentleman?”

[2]  

  Yu-tzu 1 said: “A dutiful son and brother is seldom fond of thwarting those over him: a man unwilling to thwart those over him is never given to crime. A gentleman nurses the roots: when the root has taken, the truth will grow; and what are the roots of love, but the duty of son and of brother?”

[3]  

  The Master said: “Honeyed words and flattering looks seldom speak of love.”

[4]  

  Tseng-tzu 2 said: “Thrice daily I ask myself: ‘Have I been unfaithful in dealing for others? Have I been untrue to friends? Do I practise what I preach?’”

[5]  

  The Master said: “To guide a land of a thousand chariots, honour business, be true and sparing, love the people, and time thy claims upon them.”

[6]  

  The Master said: “The young should be dutiful at home, modest abroad, heedful and true, full of goodwill for the many, close friends with love; and should they have strength to spare, let them spend it upon the arts.”

[7]  

  Tzu-hsia 3 said: “If a man honour worth and forsake lust, serve father and mother with all his strength, be ready to give his life for the king, and keep faith with his friends; though men may call him rude, I call him learned.”

[8]  

  The Master said: “Of a gentleman who is frivolous none stand in awe, nor can his learning be sound. Make faithfulness and truth thy masters: have no friends unlike thyself: be not ashamed to mend thy faults.”

[9]  

  Tseng-tzu 4 said: “Respect death and recall forefathers, the good in men will again grow sturdy.”

[10]  

  Tzu-ch´in 5 said to Tzu-kung 6: “The Master, on coming to a country, learns all about the government: does he ask, or is it told him?”
  Tzu-kung said: “The Master learns it by his warmth and honesty, by politeness, modesty, and yielding. The way that the Master asks is unlike other men’s asking.”

[11]  

  The Master said: “As long as his father lives a son should study his wishes; after he is dead, he should study his life. If for three years he do not forsake his father’s ways, he may be called dutiful.”

[12]  

  Yu-tzu 7 said: “In daily courtesy ease is of price. This was the beauty of the old kings’ ways; this they followed in small and great. But knowing this, it is not right to give way to ease, unchecked by courtesy. This also is wrong.”

[13]  

  Yu-tzu said: “If promises hug the right, word can be kept: if attentions are bounded by courtesy, shame will be banished: heroes may be worshipped, if we choose them aright.”

[14]  

  The Master said: “A gentleman who is not a greedy eater, nor a lover of ease at home, who is earnest in deed and careful of speech, who seeks the righteous and profits by them, may be called fond of learning.”

[15]  

  Tzu-kung said: “Poor, but no flatterer; rich, but not proud. How were that?”
  “Good,” said the Master; “but better still were poor, yet merry; rich, yet courteous.”
  Tzu-kung said: “Where the poem says:

is that what is meant?”
  The Master said: “Now I can talk of poetry to thee, Tz´u. Given a clue, thou canst find the way.”

[16]  

  The Master said: “Not to be known should not grieve you: grieve that ye know not men.”