The Sayings of Confucius

   
Introductory Note   
   
   
THE NAME Confucius is the latinized form of the Chinese characters, K´ung Foo-tsze, meaning, “The master, K´ung.” The bearer of this name was born of an ancient and distinguished family in the district of Tsow, in the present province of Shen-tung, China, B. C. 551. His father was a soldier of reputation and governor of Tsow, but not a man of wealth. Confucius married at nineteen, and in his early manhood held a minor office; but within a few years he became a public teacher, and soon attracted numerous disciples. Rising in reputation, he was invited to the court of Chow, where he investigated the traditional ceremonies and maxims of the ruling dynasty; and in the following year visited another state where he studied the ancient music. When he was nearly fifty, in the year 500 B. C., he again took office, becoming in turn chief magistrate of the town of Chung-too, Assistant-Superintendent of Works to the Ruler of Loo, and finally Minister of Crime. In spite of almost miraculous efficiency, he lost the support of his ruler in 496 B. C.; and until his death in 478 B. C., he wandered from state to state, sometimes well-treated, sometimes enduring severe hardships, always saddened by the refusal of the turbulent potentates to be guided by his beneficent counsels. No sooner was he dead, however, than his wisdom was recognized by peasant and emperor alike; admiration rose to veneration, veneration to worship. Sacrifices were offered to him, temples built in his honor, and a cult established which has lasted almost two thousand years.     1   
  Confucius did not regard himself as an innovator, but as the conservator of ancient truth and ceremonial propriety. He dealt with neither theology nor metaphysics, but with moral and political conduct.     2   
  The Lun Yu, Analects or Sayings of Confucius, were probably compiled, says Legge, “by the disciples of the disciples of the sage, making free use of the written memorials concerning him which they had received, and the oral statements which they had heard, from their several masters. And we shall not be far wrong, if we determine its date as about the beginning of the third, or the end of the fourth century before Christ.”

I   
    
    
[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:
           ‘If ye cut, if ye file,   
If ye polish and grind’;   
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.”

II   
    
    
[1]     THE MASTER said: “In governing, cleave to good; as the north star holds his place, and the multitude of stars revolve upon him.”   
[2]       The Master said: “To sum up the three hundred songs in a word, they are free from evil thought.”   
[3]       The Master said: “Guide the people by law, subdue them by punishment; they may shun crime, but will be void of shame. Guide them by example, subdue them by courtesy; they will learn shame, and come to be good.”   
[4]       The Master said: “At fifteen, I was bent on study; at thirty, I could stand; at forty, doubts ceased; at fifty, I understood the laws of Heaven; at sixty, my ears obeyed me; at seventy, I could do as my heart lusted, and never swerve from right.”   
[5]       Meng Yi asked the duty of a son.

  The Master said: “Obedience.”

  As Fan Ch´ih 1 was driving him, the Master said: “Meng-sun 2 asked me the duty of a son; I answered ‘Obedience.’”
  “What did ye mean?” said Fan Ch´ih.
  “To serve our parents with courtesy whilst they live,” said the Master; “to bury them with all courtesy when they die; and to worship them with all courtesy.”   
[6]       Meng Wu asked the duty of a son.
  The Master said: “What weighs on your father and mother is concern for your health.”   
[7]       Tzu-yu 3 asked the duty of a son.
  The Master said: “To-day a man is called dutiful if he keep his father and mother. But we keep both our dogs and horses, and unless we honour parents, is it not all one?”   
[8]       Tzu-hsia asked the duty of a son.
  The Master said: “Our manner is the hard part. For the young to be a stay in toil, and leave the wine and cakes to their elders, is this to fulfil their duty?”   
[9]       The Master said: “If I talk all day to Hui, 4 like a dullard, he never stops me. But when he is gone, if I pry into his life, I find he can do what I say. No, Hui is no dullard.”   
[10]       The Master said: “Look at a man’s acts; watch his motives; find out what pleases him: can the man evade you? Can the man evade you?”   
[11]       The Master said: “Who keeps the old akindle and adds new knowledge is fitted to be a teacher.”   
[12]       The Master said: “A gentleman is not a vessel.”   
[13]       Tzu-kung asked, What is a gentleman?
  The Master said: “He puts words into deed first, and sorts what he says to the deed.”   
[14]       The Master said: “A gentleman is broad and fair: the vulgar are biassed and petty.”   
[15]       The Master said: “Study without thought is vain: thought without study is dangerous.”   
[16]       The Master said: “Work on strange doctrines does harm.”   
[17]       The Master said: “Yu, 5 shall I teach thee what is understanding? To know what we know, and know what we do not know, that is understanding.”   
[18]       Tzu-chang 6 studied with an eye to pay.
  The Master said: “Listen much, keep silent when in doubt, and always take heed of the tongue; thou wilt make few mistakes. See much, beware of pitfalls, and always give heed to thy walk; thou wilt have little to rue. If thy words are seldom wrong, thy deeds leave little to rue, pay will follow.”   
[19]       Duke Ai 7 asked: “What should be done to make the people loyal?”
  Confucius answered: “Exalt the straight, set aside the crooked, the people will be loyal. Exalt the crooked, set aside the straight, the people will be disloyal.”   
[20]       Chi K´ang 8 asked how to make the people lowly, faithful, and willing.
  The Master said: “Behave with dignity, they will be lowly: be pious and merciful, they will be faithful: exalt the good, teach the unskilful, they will grow willing.”   
[21]       One said to Confucius: “Why are ye not in power, Sir?”
  The Master answered: “What does the book say of a good son? ‘An always dutiful son, who is a friend to his brothers, showeth the way to rule.’ This also is to rule. What need to be in power?”   
[22]       The Master said: “Without truth I know not how man can live. A cart without a crosspole, a carriage without harness, how could they be moved?”   
[23]       Tzu-chang asked whether we can know what is to be ten generations hence.
  The Master said: “The Yin 9 inherited the manners of the Hsia; 10 the harm and the good that they wrought them is known. The Chou 11 inherited the manners of the Yin; the harm and the good that they wrought them is known. And we may know what is to be, even an hundred generations hence, when others follow Chou.”   
[24]       The Master said: “To worship the ghosts of strangers is fawning. To see the right and not do it is want of courage.”   
    
Note 1. A disciple. [back]   
Note 2. Meng Yi. [back]   
Note 3. A disciple. [back]   
Note 4. The Master’s favourite disciple, Yen Yüan. [back]   
Note 5. The disciple, Tzu-lu. [back]   
Note 6. A disciple. [back]   
Note 7. Duke of Lu, during Confucius’ closing years. [back]   
Note 8. Head of the Chi clan during Confucius’ closing years. [back]   
Note 9. The three dynasties that had ruled China up till the time of Confucius. [back]   
Note 10. The three dynasties that had ruled China up till the time of Confucius. [back]   
Note 11. The three dynasties that had ruled China up till the time of Confucius. [back]

   
III   
    
    
[1]     OF the Chi having eight rows of dancers 1 in his hall, Confucius said: “If this is to be borne, what is not to be borne?”   
[2]       At the end of worship, the Three Clans made use of the Yung hymn. 2
  The Master said:
           “‘The dukes and princes assist,   
Solemn is the Son of Heaven;’   
what sense has this in the hall of the Three Clans?”   
[3]       The Master said: “A man without love, what is courtesy to him? A man without love, what is music to him?”   
[4]       Lin Fang asked, What is the life of ceremony?
  The Master said: “A great question! At hightides, waste is worse than thrift: at burials, grief outweighs nicety.”   
[5]       The Master said: “The wild tribes have kings; whilst the realm of Hsia 3 is without!”   
[6]       The Chi worshipped on Mount T´ai. 4.
  The Master said to Jan Yu 5: “Canst thou not stop this?”
  He answered: “I cannot.”
  “Alas!” said the Master; “dost thou set Mount T´ai below Lin Fang?”   
[7]       The Master said: “A gentleman has no rivalries-except perhaps in archery; and then, as bowing he joins the winners, or steps down to see the loser drink, throughout the struggle he is still the gentleman.”   
[8]       Tzu-hsia asked: “What is the meaning of:
           ‘Her cunning smiles,   
Her dimples light,   
Her lovely eyes,   
So clear and bright,   
The ground, not yet   
With colours dight’?”   

  The Master said: “Colouring follows groundwork.”
  “Then does courtesy follow after?” said Tzu-hsia.
  “Shang,” 6 said the Master, “thou hast hit my meaning! Now I can talk of poetry to thee.”   
[9]       The Master said: “I can speak of the manners of Hsia; but for Chi witnesses fail. I can speak of the manners of Yin; but for Sung witnesses fail. This is due to their dearth of books and great men. Were there enough of these, they would witness for me.”   
[10]       The Master said: “After the drink offering at the Great Sacrifice, I have no wish to see more.”   
[11]       One asked about the words of the Great Sacrifice.   
[12]       The Master said: “I do not understand them. Could one understand them, he would overlook the world as I this”—and he pointed to his palm.   
[13]       Worship as though those ye worship stood before you; worship the spirits, as though they stood before you.
  The Master said: “If I take no part in the sacrifice, it is none to me.”   
[14]       Wang-sun Chia 7 said: “What is the meaning of ‘it is better to court the Kitchen God than the God of the Home’?”
  “Not at all,” said the Master. “A sin against Heaven is past praying for.”   
[15]       The Master said: “Two lines of kings have passed beneath the ken of Chou. How rich in art is Chou! It is Chou I follow.”   
[16]       On entering the Great Temple, the Master asked how each thing was done.
  One said: “Who says that the man of Tsou’s son has a knowledge of ceremony? On entering the Great Temple, he asked how each thing was done!”
  On hearing this, the Master said: “Such is the ceremony.   
[17]       The Master said: “To pierce through the target does not score in archery; because men differ in strength. This was the old rule.”   
[18]       Tzu-kung wished to do away with the sheep offering at the new moon. The Master said: “Thou lovest the sheep, Tz´u: I love the rite.”   
[19]       The Master said: “Treat the king with all courtesy, men call it fawning.”   
[20]       Duke Ting asked how a king should behave to his ministers; how ministers should serve their king?
  Confucius answered: “A king should behave with courtesy to his ministers; ministers should serve their king faithfully.”   
[21]       The Master said: “The poem ‘The Osprey’ is glad, but not wanton; it is sad, but not morbid.”   
[22]       Duke Ai asked Tsai Wo 8 about the shrines of the guardian spirits. Tsai Wo answered: “The Hsia Emperors grew firs round them; the men of Yin grew cypress; the men of Chou grew chestnut, meaning ‘jest not over holy matters.’” 9
  On hearing this, the Master said: “I do not speak of what is ended, chide what is settled, or find fault with what is past.”   
[23]       The Master said: “How shallow was Kuan Chung!” 10
  “But,” said one, “was not Kuan Chung thrifty?”
  “Kuan owned San Kuei, and in his household none doubled offices,” said the Master; “was that thrift?”
  “At least Kuan Chung was versed in courtesy.”
  The Master said: “Kings screen their gates with trees; Kuan, too, had trees to screen his gate. When two kings make merry together, they have a stand for the turned-down cups; Kuan had a turned-down cup-stand too! If Kuan were versed in courtesy, who is not versed in courtesy?”   
[24]       The Master said to the chief musician of Lu: “How to play music may be known. At first each part in unison; then, a swell of harmony, each part distinct, rolling on to the finish.”   
[25]       The warden of Yi asked to see Confucius, saying: “No gentleman has ever come here, whom I have failed to see.”
  The followers presented him.
  On leaving he said: “My lads, why lament your fall? The world has long been astray. Heaven will make of the Master a warning bell.”   
[26]       The Master said: “All beautiful and noble is the music of Shao! The music of Wu is as beautiful, but less noble.”   
[27]       The Master said: “Rank without bounty; ritual without reverence; mourning without grief, why should I cast them a glance?”   
    
Note 1. An imperial prerogative. [back]   
Note 2. An imperial prerogative. [back]   
Note 3. China. [back]   
Note 4. A prerogative of the Duke of Lu. [back]   
Note 5. A disciple, in the service of the Chi. [back]   
Note 6. Tzu-hsia. [back]   
Note 7. Wang-sun Chia was minister of Wei, and more influential than his master. Kitchen God is less honourable than the God of the Home (the Roman lares), but since he sees all that goes on in the house, and ascends to Heaven at the end of the year to report what has happened, it is well to be on good terms with him. [back]   
Note 8. A disciple of Confucius. [back]   
Note 9. Literally “to cause the people to be in awe.” The commentators are more than usually learned over the Master’s anger. I attribute it to the foolishness of the pun, and translate accordingly. [back]   
Note 10. Kung Chung (+B.C. 645), a famous man in his day, was chief minister to the Duke of Ch´i, whom he raised to such wealth and power, that he became the leading prince of the empire. His chief merit lay in crushing the barbarous frontier tribes. The rest of his work, being in the sand, died with him

   
IV   
    
    
[1]     THE MASTER said: “Love makes a spot beautiful: who chooses not to dwell in love, has he got wisdom?”   
[2]       The Master said: “Loveless men cannot bear need long, they cannot bear fortune long. Loving hearts find peace in love; clever heads find profit in it.”   
[3]       The Master said: “Love can alone love others, or hate others.”   
[4]       The Master said: “A heart set on love will do no wrong.”   
[5]       The Master said: “Wealth and honours are what men desire; but abide not in them by help of wrong. Lowliness and want are hated of men; but forsake them not by help of wrong.
  “Shorn of love, is a gentleman worthy the name? Not for one moment may a gentleman sin against love; not in flurry and haste, nor yet in utter overthrow.”   
[6]       The Master said: “A friend to love, a foe to evil, I have yet to meet. A friend to love will set nothing higher. In love’s service, a foe to evil will let no evil touch him. Were a man to give himself to love, but for one day, I have seen no one whose strength would fail him. Such men there may be, but I have not seen one.”   
[7]       The Master said: “A man and his faults are of a piece. By watching his faults we learn whether love be his.”   
[8]       The Master said: “To learn the truth at daybreak and die at eve were enough.”   
[9]       The Master said: “A scholar in search of truth who is ashamed of poor clothes and poor food it is idle talking to.”   
[10]       The Master said: “A gentleman has no likes and no dislikes below heaven. He follows right.”   
[11]       The Master said: “Gentlemen cherish worth; the vulgar cherish dirt. Gentlemen trust in justice; the vulgar trust in favour.”   
[12]       The Master said: “The chase of gain is rich in hate.”   
[13]       The Master said: “What is it to sway a kingdom by courteous yielding? Who cannot by courteous yielding sway a kingdom, what can he know of courtesy?”   
[14]       The Master said: “Be not concerned at want of place; be concerned that thou stand thyself. Sorrow not at being unknown, but seek to be worthy of note.”   
[15]       The Master said: “One thread, Shen, 1 runs through all my teaching.”
  “Yes,” said Tseng-tzu.
  After the Master had left, the disciples asked what was meant.
  Tseng-tzu said: “The Master’s teaching all hangs on faithfulness and fellow-feeling.”   
[16]       The Master said: “A gentleman considers what is right; the vulgar consider what will pay.”   
[17]       The Master said: “At sight of worth, think to grow like it. When evil meets thee, search thine own heart.”   
[18]       The Master said: “A father or mother may be gently chidden. If they will not bend, be the more lowly, but persevere; nor murmur if trouble follow.”   
[19]       The Master said: “Whilst thy father and mother live, do not wander afar. If thou must travel, hold a set course.”   
[20]       The Master said: “If for three years a son do not forsake his father’s ways, he may be called dutiful.”   
[21]       The Master said: “A father’s and a mother’s age must be borne in mind; with joy on the one hand, fear on the other.”   
[22]       The Master said: “Men of old were loth to speak; lest a word that they could not make good should shame them.”   
[23]       The Master said: “Who contains himself goes seldom wrong.”   
[24]       The Master said: “A gentleman wishes to be slow to speak and quick to act.”   
[25]       The Master said: “Good is no hermit. It has ever neighbours.”   
[26]       Tzu-yu said: “Preaching to princes brings disgrace, nagging at friends estrangement.”   
    
Note 1. The disciple Tseng-tzu.

V   
    
    
[1]     OF Kung-yeh Ch´ang the Master said: “A girl might marry him. In him was no crime, though he has been in bonds.”
  He gave him his daughter to wife.
  Of Nan Jung the Master said: “When right prevails, he will not be neglected: when wrong prevails, he will escape law and punishment.”
  He gave him his brother’s daughter to wife.   
[2]       Of Tzu-chien 1 the Master said: “What a gentleman he is! But could he have grown to be a man like this were there no gentlemen in Lu?   
[3]       Tzu-kung asked: “And what of me?”
  “Thou art a vessel,” said the Master.
  “What kind of vessel?”
  “A rich temple vessel.”   
[4]       “Yung,” 2 said one, “has love, but he has not a glib tongue.”
  The Master said: “What is the good of a glib tongue? Fighting men with tongue-craft breeds much bitterness. Whether love be his I do not know, but what is the good of a glib tongue?”   
[5]       The Master moved Ch´i-tiao K´ai 3 to take office.
  He answered: “For this I lack confidence.”
  The Master was pleased.   
[6]       The Master said: “Truth makes no way. Let me go afloat and scour the sea! and Yu 4 shall follow me.”
  When Tzu-lu heard this he was glad.
  The Master said: “Yu is more venturesome than I, but he does not know how to take things.”   
[7]       Meng Wu asked whether Tzu-lu had love?
  The Master said: “I do not know.”
  He asked again.
  The Master said: “A land of a thousand chariots might give Yu charge of its levies; but whether he have love, I do not know.”
  “And how about Ch´iu?” 5
  “A town of a thousand households, a clan of an hundred chariots might make Ch´iu governor; but whether he have love, I do not know.”
  “And how about Chi´ih?” 6
  “Girt with his sash, erect in the court, Ch´ih might entertain the guests; but whether he have love, I do not know.”   
[8]       The Master said to Tzu-kung: “Who is abler, thou or Hui?” 7
  He answered: “How dare I aspire to Hui? If he hear one thing, Hui understands ten; when I hear one thing, I understand two.”
  The Master said: “Thou art not his peer. I grant, thou art not his peer.”   
[9]       Tsai Yü 8 slept in the daytime.
  The Master said: “Rotten wood cannot be carved, nor are dung walls plastered. Why chide with Yü?”
  The Master said: “In my first dealings with men, I hearkened to their words, and took their deeds on trust. Now, in dealing with men, I hearken to their words, and watch their deeds. I righted this on Yü.”   
[10]       The Master said: “I have met no firm man.”
  One answered. “Shen Ch´ang.”
  The Master said: “Ch´ang is passionate: how can he be firm?”   
[11]       Tzu-kung said: “What I do not wish to have done unto me, I likewise wish not to do unto others.”
  The Master said: “That is still beyond thee, Tz´u.”   
[12]       Tzu-kung said: “We may listen to the Master’s culture; but on life and the ways of Heaven his words are denied us.”   
[13]       Until Tzu-lu could carry out what he heard, he only dreaded to hear more.   
[14]       Tzu-kung asked: “Why was K´ung-wen styled cultured?”
  The Master said: “He was quick and fond of learning, not ashamed to ask those beneath him. That is why he was called cultured.”   
[15]       Of Tzu-chan the Master said: “In four ways he was a gentleman. His own life was modest; he honoured the man whom he served; he was kind in rearing the people; he was just in his calls upon them.”   
[16]       The Master said: “Yen P´ing was versed in friendship. Familiarity bred courtesy.”   
[17]       The Master said: “Tsang Wen lodged his tortoise with hills on the pillars, reeds on the uprights. Was this his good sense?”   
[18]       Tzu-chang said: “Tzu-wen was thrice made minister without show of gladness, and thrice left office with unmoved face. He was careful to unfold his rule to the new minister. What do ye think of him?”
  “He was faithful,” said the Master.
  “But had he love?”
  “I do not know,” said the Master: “how should this amount to love?”
  “When T´sui slew the King of Ch´i, Ch´en Wen forsook ten teams of horses, and left the land. On coming to another kingdom, he said, ‘Like my lord Ts´ui,’ and left it. On coming to a second kingdom, he said, ‘Like my lord Ts´ui,’ and left it. What do ye think of him?”
  “He was pure,” said the Master.
  “But had he love?”
  “I do not know,” said the Master: “how should this amount to love?”   
[19]       Chi Wen thought thrice before acting.
  On hearing this, the Master said: “Twice, that is enough.”   
[20]       The Master said: “Whilst peace reigned in the land Ning Wu 9 showed understanding: when troubles came he turned simpleton. His understanding is within our reach; such simplicity is beyond our reach.”   
[21]       When he was in Ch´en the Master said: “Home, I must go home! My batch of boys, ambitious and hasty, their minds cultured, their schooling ended, know not what needs fashioning!”   
[22]       The Master said: “As Po-yi 10 and Shu-ch´i never recalled past wickedness the foes they made were few.”   
[23]       The Master said: “Who would call Wei-sheng Kao straight? A man begged him for vinegar. He begged it from a neighbour and gave it.”   
[24]       The Master said: “Honeyed words, flattering looks and overdone humility, Tso Ch´in-ming thought shameful, and so do I. To hide ill-will and ape friendship, Tso Ch´in-ming thought shameful, and so do I.”   
[25]       As Yen Yüan and Chi-lu 11 were sitting with him, the Master said: “Why not each of you tell me his wishes?”
  Tzu-lu said: “Carriages and horses I would have, and robes of fine fur to share with my friends, and would wear them out all free from care.”
  Yen Yüan said: “To make no boast of talent nor show of merit, were my wish.”
  Tzu-lu said: “We should like to hear your wishes, Sir.”
  The Master said: “To make the old folk happy, to be true to friends, to have a heart for the young.”   
[26]       The Master said: “It is finished! I have met no one who can see his own faults, and arraign himself within.”   
[27]       The Master said: “In a hamlet of ten households there must be men faithful and true as I: why is there no one as fond of learning?”   
    
Note 1. A disciple, born in Lu. [back]   
Note 2. The disciple Chung-kung. [back]   
Note 3. A disciple. [back]   
Note 4. The disciple Tzu-lu. [back]   
Note 5. The disciple Jan Yu. [back]   
Note 6. The disciple Kung-hsi Hua. [back]   
Note 7. The disciple Yen Yüan. [back]   
Note 8. The disciple Tsai Wo. [back]   
Note 9. Ning Wu was minister to the Duke of Wei, in the middle of the seventh century B.C. The duke was driven from his throne, and deserted by the wise and prudent; but Ning Wu, in his simplicity, followed his master everywhere, and finally effected his restoration. [back]   
Note 10. Po-yi and Shu-ch´i were sons of the King of Ku-chu. Their father left the throne to the younger of the two; but he would not supplant the elder, nor would the elder act against his father’s wishes. So they both retired into obscurity. When King Wu overthrew the tyrant Chou (B.C. 1122), rather than live under a new dynasty, they starved to death. Of Po-yi, Mencius tells us (V. B. 1): “His eyes could not look on evil, nor his ears listen to evil. He would serve none but his own king, lead none but his own people. He took office when order reigned, and left it when times grew turbulent. He could not bear to live under lawless rulers, or amongst a lawless people. To stand by the side of a countryman he thought like sitting, in court dress, in the midst of dust and ashes. Through Chou’s day he dwelt on the shores of the North Sea, waiting till the world grew clean. So when men hear tell of Po-yi, fools grow honest, weak wills grow strong.“ [back]   
Note 11. Tzu-lu.

VI   
    
    
[1]     THE MASTER said: “Yung 1 might fill the seat of a prince.”
  “And might Tzu-sang Po-tzu?” asked Chung-kung.
  “Yes,” said the Master: “but he is lax.”
  “To be lax in his claims on the people might be right,” said Chung-kung, “were he stern to self; but to be lax to self and lax to others must surely be over-lax.”
  The Master said: “What Yung says is true.”   
[2]       Duke Ai asked which disciples were fond of learning.
  Confucius answered: “Yen Hui 2 loved learning. His anger fell not astray; he made no mistake twice. By ill-luck his life was cut short. Now that he is gone, I hear of no one who is fond of learning.”   
[3]       Tzu-hua 3 having been sent to Ch´i, the disciple Jan asked for grain to give to his mother.
  The Master said: “Give her a bushel.”
  He asked for more.
  The Master said: “Give her half a quarter.”
  Jan gave her twenty-five quarters.
  The Master said: “On his way to Ch´i, Ch´ih 4 was drawn by sleek horses, clad in fine furs. A gentleman, I have heard, helps the needy: he does not swell riches.”
  When Yüan Ssu 5 was governor his pay was nine hundred measures of grain. On his refusing it, the Master said: “Not so. Why not take it and give it to thy neighbours and country-folk.”   
[4]       Of Chung-kung the Master said: “If the calf of a brindled cow be red and horned, though men be shy to offer him, will the hills and streams disdain him?”   
[5]       The Master said: “For three months together Hui’s 6 heart never sinned against love. The others may hold out for a day, or a month; but no more.”   
[6]       Chi K´ang 7 asked whether Chung-yu 8 were fit for power.
  The Master said: “Yu 8 has character; what would governing be to him?”
  “And Tz´u, 9 is he fit for power?”
  “Tz´u is intelligent; what would governing be to him?
  “And Ch´iu, 10 is he fit for power?”
  “Ch´iu has ability; what would governing be to him?”   
[7]       The Chi sent to make Min Tzu-ch´ien 11 governor of Pi.
  Min Tzu-ch´ien said: “Make some good excuse for me. If he send again, I must be across the Wen.”   
[8]       When Po-niu 12 was ill the Master went to ask after him. Grasping his hand through the window, he said: “He is dying. It is our lot. But why this man of such an illness? why this man of such an illness?”   
[9]       The Master said: “What a man was Hui! 13 A dish of rice, a gourd of water, in a low alleyway; no man can bear such misery! Yet Hui never fell from mirth. What a man he was!”   
[10]       Jan Ch´iu 14 said: “Pleasure in the Master’s path I do not lack: I lack strength.”
  The Master said: “Who lacks strength faints by the way; thou puttest a curb upon thee.”   
[11]       The Master said to Tzu-hsia: “Read to become a gentleman; do not read as the vulgar do.”   
[12]       When Tzu-yu was governor of Wu-ch´eng, 15 the Master said: “Hast thou gotten any men?”
  He answered: “I have Tan-t´ai Mieh-ming. When walking he will not take a short-cut; he has never come to my house except on business.”   
[13]       The Master said: “Meng Chih-fan never bragged. He was covering the rear in a rout; but when the gate was reached, he whipped up his horse and cried; ‘Not courage kept me behind; my horse won’t go!’”   
[14]       The Master said: “Unless glib as the reader T´o, and handsome as Chao of Sung, escape is hard in the times that be!”   
[15]       The Master said: “Who can go out except by the door? Why is it no one keeps to the way?”   
[16]       The Master said: “Nature outweighing art begets roughness; art outweighing nature begets pedantry. Art and nature well blent make a gentleman.”   
[17]       The Master said: “Man is born upright. If he cease to be so and live, he is lucky to escape!”   
[18]       The Master said: “Who knows does not rank with him who likes, nor he who likes with him who is glad therein.”   
[19]       The Master said: “To men above the common we may speak of things above the common. To men below the common we must not speak of things above the common.”   
[20]       Fan Ch´ih 16 asked, What is wisdom?
  The Master said: “To foster right amongst the people; to honour the ghosts of the dead, whilst keeping aloof from them, may be called wisdom.”
  He asked, What is love?
  The Master said: “To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.”   
[21]       The Master said: “Wisdom delights in water; love delights in hills. Wisdom is stirring; love is quiet. Wisdom enjoys life; love grows old.”   
[22]       The Master said: “By one revolution Ch´i might grown as Lu: by one revolution Lu might win to truth.”   
[23]       The Master said: “A drinking horn that is no horn! What a horn! What a drinking horn!”   
[24]       Tsai Wo 17 said: “Were a man who loves told that there is a man in a well, would he go in after him?”
  The Master said: “Why should he? A gentleman might be brought to the well, but not entrapped into it. He may be cheated; he is not to be fooled.”   
[25]       The Master said: “By breadth of reading and the ties of courtesy a gentleman will also keep from error’s path.”   
[26]       The Master saw Nan-tzu. 18 Tzu-lu was displeased. The Master took an oath, saying: “If there were sin in me may Heaven forsake me, may Heaven forsake me!”   
[27]       The Master said: “The highest goodness is to hold fast the golden mean. Amongst the people it has long been rare.”   
[28]       Tzu-kung said: “To treat the people with bounty and help the many, how were that? Could it be called love?”
  The Master said: “What has this to do with love? Would it not be holiness? Both Yao and Shun 19 still yearned for this. In seeking a foothold for self, love finds a foothold for others; seeking light for itself, it enlightens others also. To learn from the near at hand may be called the key to love.”   
    
Note 1. The disciple Chung-kung. [back]   
Note 2. The disciple Yen Yüan. [back]   
Note 3. The disciple Kung-hsi Hua, or Kung-hsi Ch´ih. [back]   
Note 4. The disciple Kung-hsi Hua, or Kung-hsi Ch´ih. [back]   
Note 5. A disciple. [back]   
Note 6. The disciple Yen Yüan. [back]   
Note 7. Head of the Chi clan after the death of Chi Huan. [back]   
Note 8. The disciple Tzu-lu. [back]   
Note 9. The disciple Tzu-kung. [back]   
Note 10. The disciple Jan Yu. [back]   
Note 11. A disciple. [back]   
Note 12. A disciple. [back]   
Note 13. The disciple of Yen Yüan. [back]   
Note 14. The disciple Jan Yu. [back]   
Note 15. A town in Lu, belonging to the Chi. [back]   
Note 16. A disciple  [back]   
Note 17. A disciple. [back]   
Note 18. The dissolute wife of Duke Ling of Wei. [back]   
Note 19. Two emperors of the golden age

VII   
    
    
[1]     THE MASTER said: “A teller and not a maker, one who trusts and loves the past; I may be likened to our old P´eng.” 1   
[2]       The Master said: “A silent communer, an ever hungry learner, a still unflagging teacher; am I any of these?”   
[3]       The Master said: “Neglect of what is good in me; want of thoroughness in study; failure to do the right when told me; lack of strength to overcome faults, these are my sorrows.”   
[4]       In his free moments the Master was easy and cheerful.   
[5]       The Master said: “How deep is my decay! It is long since I saw the Duke of Chou 2 in a dream.”   
[6]       The Master said: “Will the right; hold to good won; rest in love; move in art.”   
[7]       The Master said: “From the man who paid in dried meat upwards, I have withheld teaching from no one.”   
[8]       The Master said: “Only to those fumbling do I open, only for those stammering do I find the word. From him who cannot turn the whole when I lift a corner I desist.”   
[9]       When eating beside a mourner the Master never ate his fill. On days when he had been wailing, the Master did not sing.   
[10]       The Master said to Yen Yüan: “I and thou alone can both fill a post when given one and live unseen when passed by.”
  Tzu-lu said: “Had ye to command three armies, Sir, who should go with you?”
  “No man,” said the Master, “ready to fly unarmed at a tiger, or plunge into a river and die without a pang should be with me; but one, rather, who is wary before a move and gains his end by well-laid plans.”   
[11]       The Master said: “Were shouldering a whip a sure road to riches, I would turn carter: but since there is no sure road, I tread the path I love.”   
[12]       The Master gave heed to devotions, war, and sickness.   
[13]       When the Master was in Ch´i for three months after hearing the Shao played he knew not the taste of meat.
  “I did not suppose,” he said, “that music could touch such heights.”   
[14]       Jan Yu said: “Is the Master for the King of Wei?” 3
  “I will ask him, said Tzu-kung.
  He went in, and said: “What kind of men were Po-yi 4 and Shu-ch´i?”
  “Worthy men of yore,” said the Master.
  “Did they rue the past?”
  “They sought love and found it; what had they to rue?”
  Tzu-kung went out, and said: “The Master is not on his side.”
  The Master said: “Living on coarse rice and water, with bent arm for pillow, mirth may be ours; but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.”   
[15]       The Master said: “Given a few more years, making fifty for the study of the Yi, 5 I might be purged from gross sin.”   
[16]       The Master liked to talk of poetry, history, and the upkeep of courtesy. Of all these he was fond of talking.   
[17]       The Duke of She asked Tzu-lu about Confucius.
  Tzu-lu did not answer.
  The Master said: “Why couldst thou not say: ‘He is a man so eager that he forgets to eat, whose cares are lost in triumph, unmindful of approaching age’?”   
[18]       The Master said: “I was not born to understanding. I loved the past, and questioned it earnestly.”   
[19]       The Master never spake of ghosts or strength, crime or spirits.   
[20]       The Master said: “Walking three together I am sure of teachers. I pick out the good and follow it; I see the bad and shun it.”   
[21]       The Master said: “Heaven planted worth in me; what harm can come of Huan T´ui?” 6   
[22]       The Master said: “My boys, do ye think that I hide things from you? I hide nothing. One who keeps from his boys nought that he does, such is Ch´iu.” 7   
[23]       The four things the Master taught were culture, conduct, faithfulness, and truth.   
[24]       The Master said: “A holy man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a gentleman! A good man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a steadfast one! But when nothing poses as something, cloud as substance, want as riches, steadfastness must be rare.”   
[25]       The Master angled, but did not fish with a net; he shot, but not at birds sitting.   
[26]       The Master said: “There may be men who act without understanding why. I do not. To listen much, pick out the good and follow it; to see much and ponder it: this comes next to understanding.”   
[27]       It was ill talking to the Hu villagers. A lad having been admitted, the disciples wondered.
  The Master said: “I allow his coming, not what is to come. Why be so harsh? If a man cleanse himself to gain admission, I admit his cleanness, but go not bail for his past.”   
[28]       The Master said: “Is love so far a thing? I yearn for love, and lo! love is come.”   
[29]       A judge of Ch´en asked whether Duke of Chao 8 knew courtesy.
  Confucius answered: “He knew courtesy.”
  After Confucius had left, the judge beckoned Wu-ma Ch´i 9 to his side, and said: “I had heard that gentlemen are of no party, but are they too for party? The prince married a Wu, of the same name as himself, and called her Miss Tzu of Wu. If the prince knew courtesy, who does not know courtesy?”
  When Wu-ma Ch´i told this to the Master, he said: “How lucky I am! If I make a slip, men are sure to know it!”   
[30]       When any one sang to the Master, and sang well, he would make him repeat it and join in.   
[31]       The Master said: “I have no more culture than others: to live as a gentleman is not yet mine.”   
[32]       The Master said: “How dare I lay claim to holiness or love? A man of endless craving I might be called, an unflagging teacher; but nothing more.”
  “That is just what we disciples cannot learn,” said Kung-hsi Hua.   
[33]       The Master being very ill, Tzu-lu asked leave to pray.
  The Master said: “Is it the custom?”
  “It is,” answered Tzu-lu. “The Memorials say, ‘Pray to the spirits in heaven above and on earth below.’”
  The Master said: “Long lasting has my prayer been.”   
[34]       The Master said: “Waste begets self-will; thrift begets meanness: but better be mean than self-willed.”   
[35]       The Master said: “A gentleman is calm and spacious: the vulgar are always fretting.”   
[36]       The Master was friendly, yet dignified; he inspired awe, but not fear; he was respectful, yet easy.   
    
Note 1. Of old P´eng we should be glad to know more, but “the rest is silence.” [back]   
Note 2. Died B.C. 1105. He was the younger brother of King Wu, the founder of the dynasty, as great in peace as the king in war. He was so anxious to carry out olden principles, “that when aught he saw did not tally with them, he would look up in thought, till day gave way to night; and if by good luck he found the answer, would sit on waiting for dawn” (Mencius, IV. B. 20). [back]   
Note 3. The grandson of Duke Ling, husband of Nan-tzu. His father had been driven from the country for planning to kill Nan-tzu. When Duke Ling died, he was succeeded by his grandson, who opposed by force his father’s attempts to seize the throne. [back]   
Note 4. See note to v. 22. [back]   
Note 5. An abstruse, ancient classic, usually called the Book of Changes. [back]   
Note 6. In B.C. 495, during Confucius’ wanderings, Huan T´ui was an officer of Sung. He sent a band of men to kill Confucius; but why he did so is not clear. [back]   
Note 7. Confucius. [back]   
Note 8. Duke Chao of Lu (+B.C. 510) was the duke who first employed Confucius. It is contrary to Chinese custom for a man to marry a girl of the same surname as himself. [back]   
Note 9. A disciple of Confucius.

VIII   
    
    
[1]     THE MASTER said: “T´ai-po 1 might indeed be called a man of highest worth. Thrice he gave up the throne. Men were at a loss how to praise him.”   
[2]       The Master said: “Without a sense of courtesy, attentions grow into fussiness, heed turns to fearfulness, courage becomes unruliness, uprightness turns to harshness. When the gentry are true to kinsmen, love will thrive among the people. If they do not forsake old friends, the people will not be selfish.”   
[3]       When Tseng-tzu lay sick he summoned his disciples and said: “Uncover my feet, uncover my arms. The poem says:
           ‘As though a deep gulf   
  Were yawning below,   
As crossing thin ice,   
  Take heed how ye go.’   
Till this day, and beyond, I have walked unscathed, my boys.” 2   
[4]       When Tseng-tzu lay sick Meng Ching 3 came to ask after him.
  Tseng-tzu said: “When a bird is to die, his note is sad; when a man is to die, his words are true. There are three duties that a gentleman prizes: to banish from his bearing violence and levity; to sort his face to the truth; to purge his speech of the low and unfair. As for temple matters there are officers to mind them.”   
[5]       Tseng-tzu said: “Out of knowledge to learn from ignorance, out of wealth to learn from penury; having to seem wanting, real to seem shadow; when gainsaid never answering back; I had once a friend who would act thus.” 4   
[6]       Tseng-tzu said: “A man to whom an orphan stripling or the fate of an hundred townships may be entrusted, and whom no crisis can corrupt, is he not a gentleman, a gentleman indeed?”   
[7]       Tseng-tzu said: “The scholar had need be strong and bold; for his burden is heavy, the road is far. His burden is love, is it not a heavy one? Death is the goal, is that not far?”   
[8]       The Master said: “Poetry rouses, courtesy upholds us, music is our crown.”   
[9]       The Master said: “The people may be made to follow: they cannot be made to understand.”   
[10]       The Master said: “Love of daring, inflamed by poverty, leads to crime: a man without love, if deeply ill-treated, will turn to crime.”   
[11]       The Master said: “All the glorious gifts of the Duke of Chou, 5 if coupled with pride and meanness, would not be worth one glance.”   
[12]       The Master said: “A man to whom three years of study have borne no fruit would be hard to find.”   
[13]       The Master said: “A man who loves learning with simple faith, who to mend his life is content to die, will not enter a tottering kingdom, nor stay in a land distraught. When right prevails below heaven, he is seen; when wrong prevails, he is unseen. When right prevails, he would blush to be poor and lowly; when wrong prevails, wealth and honours would shame him.”   
[14]       The Master said: “When not in office, discuss not policy.”   
[15]       The Master said: “In the first days of the music master Chih how grand was the ending of the Kuan-chu! How it filled the ear!”   
[16]       The Master said: “Of such as are eager, but not straight; shallow, but not simple; dull, but not truthful, I will know nothing.”   
[17]       The Master said: “Study as though the time were short, as one who fears to lose.”   
[18]       The Master said: “It was sublime how Shun and Yu swayed the world and made light of it!”   
[19]       The Master said: “How great was Yao in kingship! Sublime! Heaven alone is great; Yao alone was patterned on it! Boundless! Men’s words failed them. Sublime the work he did, dazzling the wealth of his culture!”   
[20]       Shun had five ministers, and order reigned below heaven. King Wu said: “Ten in number are my able ministers.” Confucius said: “‘The dearth of talent,’ is not that the truth? The days when Yü 6 succeeded T´ang 7 were rich in talent; yet there were but nine men in all, and one of these was a woman. The utmost worth was the worth of Chou! 8 Lord of two-thirds of the earth, he submitted all to Yin.”   
[21]       The Master said: “I find no flaw in Yü. Frugal in eating and drinking, he was lavish to the ghosts of the dead: ill-clad, he was gorgeous in cap and gown: his home a hovel, he poured out his strength upon dikes and ditches. No kind of flaw can I find in Yü.”   
    
Note 1. T´ai-po was the eldest son of the King of Chou. The father wished his third son to succeed him, in order that the throne might pass through him to his famous son, afterwards known as King Wen. To facilitate this plan T´ai-po and his second brother went into voluntary exile. [back]   
Note 2. The Chinese say: “The body is born whole by the mother; it is for the son to return it again whole.” [back]   
Note 3. Head of the Meng clan, minister of Lu. [back]   
Note 4. This is believed to refer to Yen Yüan. [back]   
Note 5. See note to vii. 5. [back]   
Note 6. Shun. [back]   
Note 7. Yao. [back]   
Note 8. King Wen, Duke of Chou.