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| [1] |
LING, Duke of Wei, asked Confucius about the line
of battle. Confucius answered: “Of temple ware I have learned: arms I have not studied.’ On
the morrow he went his way. In Ch´en grain ran out. His followers grew too ill to rise. Tzu-lu could not hide
his vexation. “Must gentlemen also face misery?” he said. “Of course a gentleman
must face misery,” said the Master. It goads the vulgar to violence.” |
| [2] |
The Master said: “Dost thou not
think, Tz´u, 1 that I am a man who learns much, and bears it in mind?” “Yes,”
he answered: “is it not so?” “No.” said the Master. “I string all into one.” |
| [3] |
The Master said: “Yu, 2 how few know what is worthy!” |
| [4] |
The Master said: “To rule doing
nothing, that was Shun’s way. What need to be doing? Self-respect and a kingly look are all.” |
| [5] |
Tzu-chang asked how to get on. The
Master said: “Be faithful and true of word; let thy walk be plain and lowly: thou wilt get on, though in savage land.
If thy words be not faithful and true, the walk plain and lowly, wilt thou get on, though in thine own home? Standing, see
these words ranged before thee; driving, see them written upon the yoke. Then thou wilt get on.” Tzu-chang
wrote them upon his girdle. |
| [6] |
The Master said: “Straight indeed
was the historian Yü! Straight as an arrow when right prevailed, and straight as an arrow when wrong prevailed! What a gentleman
was Ch´ü Po-yü! When right prevailed he took office: when wrong prevailed he rolled himself up in thought.” |
| [7] |
The Master said: “To keep silence
to him who has ears to hear is to spill the man. To speak to a man without ears to hear is to spill thy words. Wisdom spills
neither man nor word.” |
| [8] |
The Master said: “A high will,
or a loving heart, will not seek life at cost of love. To fulfil love they will kill the body.” |
| [9] |
Tzu-kung asked how to practise love.
The Master said: “A workman bent on good work will first sharpen his tools. In the land that is thy home, serve the
best men in power, and get thee friends who love.” |
| [10] |
Yen Yüan asked how to rule a kingdom. The
Master said: “Follow the Hsia seasons; drive in the chariot of Yin; wear the head-dress of Chou; choose for music the
Shao and its dance. Banish the strains of Cheng, and shun men of glib tongue; for wanton are the strains of Cheng; there is
danger in a glib tongue.” |
| [11] |
The Master said: “Without thought
for far off things, there will be troubles near at hand.” |
| [12] |
The Master said: “It is finished!
I have met no one who loves good as he loves women!” |
| [13] |
The Master said: “Did not Tsang
Wen filch his post? He knew the worth of Liu-hsia Hui, 3 and did not stand by him.” |
| [14] |
The Master said: “By asking much
of self, and throwing little on others, ill feeling is put to flight.” |
| [15] |
The Master said: “Unless a man
ask, ‘Will this help? will that help?’ I know not how to help him.” |
| [16] |
The Master said: “When all day
long there is no talk of right, and sharp moves find favour, the company is in hard case.” |
| [17] |
The Master said: “A gentleman
makes right his base. Done with courtesy, spoken with deference, rounded with truth, right makes a gentleman.” |
| [18] |
The Master said: “His unworthiness
vexes a gentleman: to live unknown cannot vex him,” |
| [19] |
The Master said: “A gentleman
fears lest his name should die when life is done.” |
| [20] |
The Master said: ‘A gentleman
looks within: the vulgar look unto others.” |
| [21] |
The Master said: “A gentleman
is firm, not quarrelsome; a friend, not a partisan.” |
| [22] |
The Master said: “A gentleman
does not raise a man for his words, nor scorn what is said for the speaker.” |
| [23] |
Tzu-kung asked: “Can one word
cover the whole duty of man?” The Master said: “Fellow-feeling, perhaps. Do not do unto others
what thou wouldst not they should do unto thee.” |
| [24] |
The Master said: “Of the men that
I meet, whom do I decry? whom do I flatter? Or if I flatter, it is after trial. Because of this people three lines of kings
followed the straight road.” |
| [25] |
The Master said: “Even in my time
an historian would leave a blank in his text, an owner of a horse would lend him to others to ride. To-day it is so no more.” |
| [26] |
The Master said: “Honeyed words
confound goodness: impatience of trifles confounds great projects.” |
| [27] |
The Master said: “The hatred of
the many calls for search: the favour of the many calls for search.” |
| [28] |
The Master said: “The man can
exalt the truth: truth cannot exalt the man.” |
| [29] |
The Master said: “The fault is
to cleave to a fault.” |
| [30] |
The Master said: “In vain have
I spent in thought whole days without food, whole nights without sleep! Study is better.” |
| [31] |
The Master said: “A gentleman
aims at truth; he does not aim at food. Ploughing may end in famine; study may end in pay. But a gentleman pines for truth:
he is not pined with poverty.” |
| [32] |
The Master said: “What the mind
has won will be lost again, unless love hold it fast. A mind to understand and love to hold fast, without dignity of bearing,
will go unhonoured. A mind to understand, love to hold fast and dignity of bearing are incomplete, without courteous ways.” |
| [33] |
The Master said: “A gentleman
has no skill in trifles, but has strength for big tasks: the vulgar are skilled in trifles, but have no strength for big tasks.” |
| [34] |
The Master said: “Love is more
to the people than fire and water. I have known men come to their death by fire and water: I have met no man whom love brought
unto death.” |
| [35] |
The Master said: “When love is
at stake yield not to an army.” |
| [36] |
The Master said: “A gentleman
is consistent, not changeless.” |
| [37] |
The Master said: “A servant of
the king honours work and rates pay last.” |
| [38] |
The Master said: “All educated
men are peers.” |
| [39] |
The Master said: “Mingle not in
projects with men whose ways are not thine.” |
| [40] |
The Master said: “The whole end
of speech is to be understood.” |
| [41] |
When the music-master Mien was presented,
the Master, on coming to the steps, said: “Here are the steps.” On reaching the mat, the Master said: “Here
is the mat.” When all were seated, the Master told him: “Such an one is here, and such an one is here.” After
the music-master had left, Tzu-chang said: “Is this the way to speak to a music-master?” The Master
said: “Surely it is the way to help a music-master.” 4 |
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| Note 1. Tzu-kung. |
| Note 2. Tzu-lu: believed to have been said to him on the occasion
mentioned above in XV. 1. |
| Note 3. Another of these seigneurs du temps jadis who
is more to us than a dim shadow, still living on in the pages of Mencius. There we learn that “He was not ashamed of
a foul king, nor scorned a small post. He hid not his worth in office, but held his own way. Dismissal did not vex him; want
did not make him sad. If thrown together with countrymen he felt so much at ease that he could not bear to leave them. ‘Thou
art thou,’ he said, ‘and I am I. Standing beside me with shoulders bare, or body naked, how canst thou defile
me?’ (V. B. 1). When pressed to stay, the stayed; for he set no store on going” (II. A. 9). |
| Note 4. The man being blind, like most musicians in the East. |
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