Confucius

^1:1 Is­nʼt it a pleas­ure to learn some­thing, then to ap­ply it at the right time? Is­nʼt it a joy to have friends come from afar? Is­nʼt he a su­pe­ri­or man who takes no of­fense when his mer­its are ig­nored?

^1:3 Cun­ning words and an in­gra­ti­at­ing ap­pear­ance rare­ly ac­com­pa­ny be­nev­o­lence.

^1:5 The Way to guide a state of a thou­sand chariots: be at­ten­tive to busi­ness and trust­wor­thy; be fru­gal in ex­pen­di­tures and love your fel­low men; on­ly mo­bi­lize the com­mon peo­ple at the prop­er time of year.

^1:6 A young man should re­spect his par­ents at home, re­spect his elders abroad, say lit­tle but be trust­wor­thy, love the peo­ple at large but be in­ti­mate with the be­nev­o­lent. If he still has en­er­gy to spare, let him study lit­er­a­ture.

^1:10 Ziqin asked Zigong, “When Con­fu­cius ar­rives in a coun­try, he al­ways learns about its gov­ern­ment. Does he seek out this in­for­ma­tion or is it giv­en to him?” Zigong replied, “Con­fu­cius obtains it by be­ing cor­dial, up­right, re­spect­ful, fru­gal, and def­er­en­tial. He seeks it dif­fer­ent­ly than oth­er men do.”

^1:14 A su­pe­ri­or man seeks nei­ther a full stom­ach nor com­fort­a­ble lodg­ings. He is dil­i­gent in his actions but cau­tious in his speech. He as­so­ci­ates with those who know the Way in or­der to be put right. Such a man may be said to love learn­ing.

^1:16 Donʼt wor­ry that men donʼt rec­og­nize your mer­its; wor­ry that you donʼt rec­og­nize theirs.

^2:1 He who governs by vir­tue is like the North Star: it stays in its place while all the oth­er stars pay hom­age to it.

^2:3 If you lead the peo­ple with edicts and keep them or­der­ly with pun­ish­ments, they will e­vade the pun­ish­ment and have no sense of shame. If you lead them with vir­tue and keep them or­der­ly with pro­pri­e­ty, they will have a sense of shame and or­der them­selves.

^2:6 Meng Wubo asked about fil­ial pi­e­ty. Con­fu­cius said, “Give your par­ents noth­ing to wor­ry about oth­er than ill­ness.”

^2:7 Ziyou asked about fil­ial pi­e­ty. Con­fu­cius said, “Now­a­days fil­ial pi­e­ty on­ly means be­ing able to feed your par­ents. But e­ven dogs and hors­es re­ceive this much care. With­out re­spect, whatʼs the dif­fer­ence?”

^2:8 Zixia asked about fil­ial pi­e­ty. Con­fu­cius said, “Itʼs the ex­pres­sion on your face thatʼs dif­fi­cult to man­age. Itʼs not fil­ial pi­e­ty mere­ly for the young to shoul­der the bur­den when thereʼs work to do, and to de­fer to their elders when thereʼs wine and food a­vail­a­ble.”

^2:10 Look at the means a man employs. Ob­serve his motives. Ex­am­ine what gives him com­fort. How can a man con­ceal his char­ac­ter?

^2:11 If a man learns the new by reviewing the old, he is wor­thy to be a teach­er.

^2:13 A su­pe­ri­or man acts be­fore he speaks, and then speaks ac­cord­ing to his actions. ¹⁴ A su­pe­ri­or man is in­clu­sive and not par­ti­san while an in­fe­ri­or man is the op­po­site.

^2:15 Learn­ing with­out think­ing is a waste. Think­ing with­out learn­ing is dan­ger­ous.

^2:17 Knowl­edge is to know when you know some­thing and to know when you donʼt.

^2:18 Zizhang was study­ing in or­der to get an of­fi­cial po­si­tion. Con­fu­cius said, “If you lis­ten much, put a­side what is doubt­ful, and speak cau­tious­ly about the rest, youʼll make few mistakes. If you ob­serve much, put a­side what is per­i­lous, and act cau­tious­ly on the rest, you will have few regrets. Few mistakes in speech, few regrets in ac­tion: an of­fi­cial po­si­tion will fol­low.”

^2:19 If you raise up the straight and place them over the crook­ed, the peo­ple will fol­low you. If you raise up the crook­ed and place them over the straight, the peo­ple wonʼt fol­low you.

^2:20 Ji Kangzi asked, “How can I en­cour­age the peo­ple to be re­spect­ful, loy­al, and dil­i­gent?” Con­fu­cius said, “Ap­proach them with dig­ni­ty then theyʼll be re­spect­ful. Be fil­ial and kind then theyʼll be loy­al. Raise up the good and in­struct the in­com­pe­tent then theyʼll be dil­i­gent.”

^2:21 Some­one asked Con­fu­cius, “Why donʼt you en­gage in gov­ern­ment?” Con­fu­cius said, “The Book of Documents says, ‘Just by be­ing fil­ial and be­ing friend­ly to your brothers you will have an ef­fect on gov­ern­ment.’ Since this is al­so en­gag­ing in gov­ern­ment, why do I need to ‘en­gage in gov­ern­ment’?”

^2:22 I donʼt know what to do with an un­trust­wor­thy man. How can you pull a wag­on thatʼs mis­sing its yoke pin?

^2:24 To see what is right and not to do it is a lack of cour­age.

^3:4 In rit­u­al, pre­fer fru­gal­i­ty to ex­trav­a­gance. In funerals, pre­fer grief to for­mal­i­ty.

^3:12 If I donʼt par­tic­i­pate in a sac­ri­fice, itʼs as if I have­nʼt sac­ri­ficed at all.

^3:15 When Con­fu­cius entered the Grand Tem­ple, he asked questions about eve­ry­thing. Some­one remarked, “Who says that Con­fu­cius knows about rit­u­al? When visiting the Grand Tem­ple, he asked questions about eve­ry­thing.” Con­fu­cius, hear­ing this, said, “This is the rit­u­al.”

^3:21 Donʼt ex­plain a­way what is al­ready done. Donʼt ar­gue against what is al­ready ac­com­plished. Donʼt as­sign blame for what is al­ready past.

^3:26 Hold­ing a high po­si­tion with­out tol­er­ance, per­form­ing rit­u­al with­out rev­er­ence, joining a fu­ner­al with­out grief: how can I look at such things?

^4:1 Itʼs be­nev­o­lence that makes a neigh­bor­hood beau­ti­ful. How can a man be con­sid­ered wise if he chooses not to re­side a­mong be­nev­o­lence?

^4:2 Those who lack be­nev­o­lence can en­dure nei­ther ad­ver­si­ty nor en­joy­ment for long. The be­nev­o­lent are con­tent with be­nev­o­lence. The wise cul­ti­vate be­nev­o­lence for its ad­van­tage.

^4:5 All men de­sire wealth and hon­or, but if theyʼre obtained by not fol­low­ing the Way, they should not be kept. All men hate pov­er­ty and dis­grace, but if they canʼt be avoided by fol­low­ing the Way, they should not be avoided. If a su­pe­ri­or man aban­dons be­nev­o­lence, how is he wor­thy of that name? A su­pe­ri­or man nev­er leaves be­nev­o­lence e­ven for the space of a sin­gle meal. In moments of haste, he acts ac­cord­ing to it. In times of dif­fi­cul­ty, he acts ac­cord­ing to it.

^4:6 One who re­al­ly loves be­nev­o­lence puts noth­ing above it. One who re­al­ly hates what is not be­nev­o­lent would­nʼt al­low it to ap­proach him. Has any­one de­vot­ed all his strength to be­nev­o­lence for a sin­gle day? I have­nʼt seen any­one who lacked the strength to do so.

^4:7 Peo­ple make errors ac­cord­ing to the type of per­son they are. Ob­serve their errors and you can know their de­gree of be­nev­o­lence.

^4:9 A gen­tle­man who sets his heart on the Way, but is a­shamed of poor clothes and poor food, is not worth en­gag­ing in dis­cus­sion.

^4:10 When a su­pe­ri­or man deals with the world he is not in­var­i­a­bly for or against any­thing. He sides with what is right.

^4:11 A su­pe­ri­or man cherishes vir­tue; an in­fe­ri­or man cherishes land. A su­pe­ri­or man cherishes jus­tice; an in­fe­ri­or man cherishes fa­vors.

^4:12 One who acts out of per­son­al prof­it incurs much re­sent­ment.

^4:14 Donʼt wor­ry that you have no po­si­tion; wor­ry about what it takes to mer­it one. Donʼt wor­ry that no one knows you; seek to be worth know­ing.

^4:16 A su­pe­ri­or man un­der­stands what is right. An in­fe­ri­or man un­der­stands per­son­al prof­it.

^4:17 When you see a wor­thy man, think of be­com­ing his e­qual; when you see an un­wor­thy man, look with­in and ex­am­ine your­self.

^4:18 In serv­ing your par­ents, you may ad­mon­ish them gen­tly; if you see that they donʼt fol­low your ad­vice, re­main re­spect­ful, donʼt be­come dis­o­be­di­ent, and work with­out com­plain­ing.

^4:22 The an­cients were re­luc­tant to speak be­cause they would have been a­shamed if their actions did­nʼt live up to their words.

^4:23 One rare­ly miss­es the mark be­cause of self-control.

^4:24 A su­pe­ri­or man wants to be slow in speech but quick in ac­tion.

^5:5 What is the use of el­o­quence? Those who give a quick re­tort of­ten in­cur the ha­tred of others.

^5:10 Zai Yu was sleep­ing dur­ing the day. Con­fu­cius said, “Rot­ten wood can­not be carved, and a wall of ma­nure can­not be trow­eled. What is the use of scolding Zai Yu? I used to lis­ten to what peo­ple said and trust them to act ac­cord­ing­ly. Now I lis­ten to what peo­ple say and watch what they do. Itʼs be­cause of Zai Yu that I have changed.”

^5:11 I have­nʼt seen a tru­ly stead­fast man. How can a man who is full of desires be stead­fast?

^5:15 Kong the Re­fined was men­tal­ly quick, fond of learn­ing, and not a­shamed to ask questions of his inferiors. Thatʼs why he was called Re­fined.

^5:16 Zi Chan had four char­ac­ter­is­tics of the Way of a su­pe­ri­or man: he was re­spect­ful in his pri­vate con­duct, re­spect­ful in serv­ing his superiors, gen­er­ous in car­ing for the peo­ple, and just in employing the peo­ple.

^5:17 Yang Ping Zhong ex­celled in his re­la­tions with others. E­ven af­ter long ac­quaint­ance he con­tin­ued to treat them with re­spect.

^5:20 Ji Wen Zi al­ways thought three times be­fore act­ing. Hear­ing this, Con­fu­cius said, “Twice is e­nough.”

^5:23 Bo Yi and Shu Qi did not re­mem­ber old grievances, so there was lit­tle re­sent­ment against them.

^5:25 Glib talk, an in­gra­ti­at­ing ex­pres­sion, ob­se­qui­ous con­duct, and act­ing friend­ly to­wards some­one while concealing your re­sent­ment for them: Iʼm a­shamed of such be­hav­ior.

^5:26 My heartʼs de­sire is to bring peace to the old, to share trust with my friends, and to cher­ish the young.

^5:27 I have not yet met any­one who can see his own faults and in­ward­ly ac­cuse him­self.

^6:3 Yanhui loved learn­ing. He nev­er took his an­ger out on others, and nev­er made the same mis­take twice. ¹¹ How ad­mi­ra­ble he was! He lived on a bowlful of rice to eat, a la­dle­ful of wa­ter to drink, and a hov­el for shel­ter. Others could not have en­dured such mis­ery, yet Yanhuiʼs joy was un­changed.

^6:12 Ran Qiu said, “Itʼs not that I donʼt en­joy your Way, but I donʼt have the strength to fol­low it.” Con­fu­cius said, “Those who donʼt have the strength col­lapse a­long the way, but you have drawn a line be­fore starting.”

^6:15 Meng Zhifan was­nʼt boast­ful. He once held the rear dur­ing a re­treat. As they reached the city gate, he whipped his horse, say­ing, “Itʼs not that I dared to be last, on­ly that my horse would­nʼt go.”

^6:18 When nat­u­ral dis­po­si­tion prevails over re­fine­ment, you get a sav­age. When re­fine­ment prevails over nat­u­ral dis­po­si­tion, you get a pe­dan­tic clerk. When nat­u­ral dis­po­si­tion and re­fine­ment are prop­er­ly blend­ed, you get a su­pe­ri­or man.

^6:28 If I have done wrong, may Heav­en de­test and aban­don me!

^7:2 Itʼs nat­u­ral for me to store up knowl­edge si­lent­ly, to learn with­out sa­ti­e­ty, and to teach others with­out wea­ri­ness.

^7:3 My worries are fail­ure to cul­ti­vate vir­tue, fail­ure to ex­plore what I learn, in­a­bil­i­ty to fol­low what is right when I hear it, and in­a­bil­i­ty to change what is not good.

^7:6 Set your heart on the Way. Base your­self in vir­tue. Re­ly on be­nev­o­lence. En­joy the arts.

^7:7 I have nev­er de­nied in­struc­tion to any­one, e­ven if his own resources could on­ly af­ford a bun­dle of dried meat for tu­i­tion.

^7:8 I on­ly en­light­en those who are driv­en by ea­ger­ness to learn and who are anx­ious­ly try­ing to ex­plain their ideas. If I lift up one cor­ner and they can­not come back with the oth­er three, I donʼt re­peat my­self.

^7:9 When Con­fu­cius was eat­ing in the pres­ence of a mourn­er, he nev­er ate his fill.

^7:11 Few have the abil­i­ty to act when employed and to hide when dis­missed. If I were com­mand­ing the Three Armies, who would I take with me? A man who would wres­tle a ti­ger with bare hands, or cross a riv­er on foot, dy­ing with­out re­gret—I would not take that man. It must be some­one who ap­proaches a task with ap­pre­hen­sion, likes to make plans, and can ex­e­cute them suc­cess­ful­ly.

^7:12 If wealth can be sought de­cent­ly, I will do so, e­ven if I have to have a low­ly job. If it can­not be sought de­cent­ly, I will fol­low what I love.

^7:15 Bo Yi and Shu Qi sought be­nev­o­lence and got it. Why should they have complaints?

^7:16 Coarse rice to eat, wa­ter to drink, and your bent arm for a pil­low—there is still joy in the midst of these things. Wealth and hon­or obtained by un­righ­teous means are like fleet­ing clouds to me.

^7:17 Give me a few more years; if I can study un­til fif­ty, I may be free from great mistakes.

^7:19 Iʼm the kind of man who is so ea­ger for knowl­edge that he forgets to eat, who is so joy­ful that he forgets to wor­ry, and who is not a­ware that old age is com­ing.

^7:20 I was not born with knowl­edge, but I love an­tiq­ui­ty and ear­nest­ly seek it.

^7:22 When walk­ing with any two peo­ple, they must have some­thing to teach me. I se­lect their strengths and fol­low them, their weak­ness­es and cor­rect my­self.

^7:23 Heav­en gave birth to the vir­tue in me. What can an­gry rulers do to me?

^7:24 My friends, I hide noth­ing from you. What­ev­er I do, I share with you. That is who I am.

^7:26 I canʼt hope to meet a sage, but I would be con­tent to meet a su­pe­ri­or man. I canʼt hope to meet a tru­ly good man, but I would be con­tent to meet a stead­fast man. Itʼs hard to be stead­fast when noth­ing pretends to be some­thing, emp­ti­ness pretends to be full­ness, and pov­er­ty pretends to be com­fort.

^7:27 Con­fu­cius fished with a line, but did­nʼt use a net. He hunt­ed, but did­nʼt shoot roosting birds.

^7:28 There may be those who can act with­out knowl­edge, but Iʼm not one of them. I hear much, se­lect what is good, and fol­low it. I see much, and re­mem­ber it.

^7:29 To ap­prove of a manʼs vis­it does­nʼt mean ap­prov­ing of what he does af­ter he leaves. When a man purifies him­self to ap­proach me, I ap­prove of his pu­ri­ty with­out en­dors­ing his past or his fu­ture.

^7:30 Is be­nev­o­lence far a­way? As soon as I want be­nev­o­lence, it is at hand.

^7:31 Iʼm for­tu­nate. When I make a mis­take, others al­ways no­tice it.

^7:34 How would I dare claim to be be­nev­o­lent or a sage? Rath­er, it may be said that I strive for them with­out flag­ging, and teach others with­out wea­ri­ness.

^7:36 Ex­trav­a­gance leads to ar­ro­gance; fru­gal­i­ty leads to stin­gi­ness. Itʼs bet­ter to be stin­gy than ar­ro­gant.

^7:37 A su­pe­ri­or man is eas­y­go­ing and un­per­turbed. An in­fe­ri­or man is al­ways tense and anx­ious.

^7:38 Con­fu­cius was warm yet stern; au­thor­i­ta­tive but not fierce; re­spect­ful yet at ease.

^8:1 Tai Bo can be said to have had the highest vir­tue. Three times he de­clined his claim to the king­dom.

^8:2 Cour­te­sy with­out pro­pri­e­ty is tire­some. Cau­tion with­out pro­pri­e­ty is ti­mid­i­ty. Brav­ery with­out pro­pri­e­ty is cha­os. Can­dor with­out pro­pri­e­ty is rude­ness.

^8:9 The peo­ple can be made to fol­low a path, but they canʼt be made to un­der­stand it.

^8:10 A man who loves brav­ery and hates pov­er­ty will pro­ceed to un­ru­ly be­hav­ior. A man with­out be­nev­o­lence who is de­spised by others too much will pro­ceed to un­ru­ly be­hav­ior.

^8:11 If a man had talents as ad­mi­ra­ble as the Duke of Zhou, but was ar­ro­gant and stin­gy, the rest would not be worth no­tic­ing.

^8:13 Have sin­cere faith, love learn­ing, and de­fend the good Way un­to death. Donʼt en­ter a state thatʼs in per­il, and donʼt stay in one thatʼs in cha­os. Show your­self when the Way prevails in the world, but hide when it does­nʼt. When the Way prevails in the state, itʼs shame­ful to be poor and hum­ble. When the Way does­nʼt pre­vail in the state, itʼs shame­ful to be rich and no­ble.

^8:14 Donʼt plan the policies of a po­si­tion that you donʼt hold.

^8:21 I can find no fault in Yu. His food and drink were fru­gal, yet his offerings to the spirits and gods showed ut­ter de­vo­tion. His clothes were coarse, yet his rit­u­al cap and robes were mag­nif­i­cent. His dwell­ing was hum­ble, yet he exhausted his strength on ir­ri­ga­tion ditches and canals.

^9:3 The rules of rit­u­al pre­scribe a hemp cap. Now­a­days itʼs made of silk. Thatʼs more fru­gal. I fol­low the com­mon prac­tice. The rules of rit­u­al pre­scribe bow­ing be­low the steps. Now­a­days peo­ple bow af­ter as­cend­ing. Thatʼs ar­ro­gant. Al­though it goes against the com­mon prac­tice, I bow be­low the steps.

^9:4 Con­fu­cius for­bade four things: donʼt act on spec­u­la­tion, donʼt de­mand cer­tain­ty, donʼt be stub­born, and donʼt be e­go­tis­ti­cal.

^9:5 When Con­fu­cius was in dan­ger in Kuang, he said, “Since King Wen died, does­nʼt his cul­ture re­side in me? If Heav­en does­nʼt want this cul­ture destroyed, what can the peo­ple of Kuang do to me?”

^9:6 I was poor when I was young, so I learn­ed many me­ni­al skills. Must a su­pe­ri­or man be skilled in many things? No, not many.

^9:8 Do I have knowl­edge? No, I donʼt. A rus­tic asked me a ques­tion and my mind went blank. I ham­mered at both ends of the ques­tion un­til I got eve­ry­thing out of it.

^9:13 Zigong asked, “If you had a beau­ti­ful piece of jade here, would you hide it safe­ly in a box or try to get a good price and sell it?” Con­fu­cius said, “Sell it! All Iʼm waiting for is the right of­fer.”

^9:16 I have no dif­fi­cul­ty serv­ing high officials when abroad, serv­ing my elders at home, giv­ing my best efforts in fu­ner­al ar­range­ments, and avoiding trou­ble from wine.

^9:18 I have nev­er seen a man who loves vir­tue as much as he loves beau­ty in wom­en.

^9:19 Itʼs like build­ing a mound: if I stop be­fore the last bas­ket of earth, it re­mains un­fin­ished. Itʼs like fill­ing a ditch: al­though Iʼve dumped in on­ly a sin­gle bas­ket of earth, if I con­tin­ue then Iʼm mak­ing prog­ress.

^9:23 The young­er gen­er­a­tion should be held in awe. How do we know that it wonʼt e­qual the pres­ent one? But if a man reaches for­ty or fif­ty years old with­out dis­tin­guish­ing him­self, he no long­er deserves awe.

^9:24 I can do noth­ing with the man who enjoys po­lite words with­out unfolding their pur­pose, or who agrees with ex­em­pla­ry words with­out reforming him­self.

^9:25 Put loy­al­ty and trust­wor­thi­ness above eve­ry­thing else. On­ly have friends who are your mor­al equals. When you make a mis­take, donʼt be a­fraid to cor­rect it.

^9:30 You may be able to study to­geth­er, and yet be un­a­ble to pur­sue the Way to­geth­er. You may be able to pur­sue the Way to­geth­er, and yet be un­a­ble to take a stand to­geth­er. You may be able to take a stand to­geth­er, and yet be un­a­ble to share au­thor­i­ty to­geth­er.

^10:1 In his vil­lage, Con­fu­cius was most def­er­en­tial, as if he were un­a­ble to speak. In the an­ces­tral tem­ple or at court, he was el­o­quent but cau­tious.

^10:8 E­ven if there was plen­ty of meat, he would­nʼt eat more meat than rice. On­ly with wine did he have no set lim­it, but he nev­er drank to the point of con­fu­sion.

^10:10 He did­nʼt con­verse while eat­ing, or talk in bed. ¹¹ E­ven with a sim­ple meal of coarse rice and veg­e­ta­ble broth, he made an of­fer­ing with so­lem­ni­ty.

^10:17 When the stables burned, Con­fu­cius returned from court and asked, “Was any­one hurt?” He did­nʼt ask about the hors­es.

^10:22 When a friend died who had no fam­i­ly to make ar­range­ments, he said, “Let the fu­ner­al be at my home.”

^11:4 Yan Hui is no help to me. Eve­ry­thing I say pleases him.

^11:12 If you arenʼt yet able to serve peo­ple, how would you be able to serve the spirits. If you donʼt yet un­der­stand life, how could you un­der­stand death?

^11:14 The peo­ple of Lu were re­build­ing the Long Treas­ury. Min Ziqian said, “Why not re­store the old struc­ture? Why must it be changed com­plete­ly?” Con­fu­cius said, “This man ei­ther says noth­ing, or his words hit the mark.”

^11:16 Go­ing too far is as bad as fall­ing short.

^11:21 If a manʼs opinions are sound, is he a su­pe­ri­or man or is it on­ly a sol­emn ap­pear­ance?

^11:22 Zilu asked, “Should I im­me­di­ate­ly put in­to prac­tice what I learn?” Con­fu­cius said, “You have a fa­ther and el­der brothers to con­sult first.” Ranyou asked the same ques­tion. Con­fu­cius said, “You should im­me­di­ate­ly put in­to prac­tice what you learn.” Gongxi Hua said, “Iʼm con­fused. May I ask for an ex­pla­na­tion?” Con­fu­cius said, “Ranyou holds back, so I urged him for­ward. Zilu has en­er­gy for two, so I held him back.”

^12:1 Yan Hui asked about be­nev­o­lence. Con­fu­cius said, “Be­nev­o­lence is over­com­ing one­self and returning to pro­pri­e­ty. Be­nev­o­lence co­mes from one­self. How could it come from others? Donʼt look at any­thing im­prop­er. Donʼt lis­ten to any­thing im­prop­er. Donʼt say any­thing im­prop­er. Donʼt do any­thing im­prop­er.”

^12:2 Zhonggong asked about be­nev­o­lence. Con­fu­cius said, “When abroad, be­have as if you were re­ceiv­ing an im­por­tant guest. When employing the peo­ple, be­have as if you were as­sist­ing at an im­por­tant sac­ri­fice. Donʼt im­pose on others what you donʼt want for your­self.”

^12:3 Si­ma Niu asked about be­nev­o­lence. Con­fu­cius said, “A be­nev­o­lent per­son is re­luc­tant to speak. When do­ing it is dif­fi­cult, how can you not be re­luc­tant to speak about it.”

^12:4 Si­ma Niu asked about the su­pe­ri­or man. Con­fu­cius said, “A su­pe­ri­or man is free from wor­ry and fear. If in­tro­spec­tion finds noth­ing to be a­shamed of, why should he have wor­ry or fear?”

^12:6 Zizhang asked about dis­cern­ment. Con­fu­cius said, “He who is not in­flu­enced by slan­der that saturates and by ac­cu­sa­tions that spread like a rash, can be called dis­cern­ing. He can al­so be called far­sight­ed.”

^12:7 Zigong asked about gov­ern­ment. Con­fu­cius said, “Suf­fi­cient food, suf­fi­cient arms, and the trust of the peo­ple. If I had to give up one of these three, I would give up the arms. If I had to give up one of the remaining two, I would give up the food. Death has been with us since an­cient times, but with­out trust the peo­ple can­not stand.”

^12:10 Zizhang asked about ac­cu­mu­lat­ing vir­tue. Con­fu­cius said, “Make these your guid­ing principles: loy­al­ty, trust­wor­thi­ness, and fol­low­ing what is right. This is the way to ac­cu­mu­late vir­tue.”

^12:13 In hear­ing lawsuits, I am the same as any­one. What we need is to make it so that there are no lawsuits.

^12:14 Zizhang asked about gov­ern­ment. Con­fu­cius said, “Pon­der it with­out tir­ing, and car­ry it out with loy­al­ty.”

^12:15 Study cul­ture broad­ly, and re­strain your­self with pro­pri­e­ty. You will not stray from what is right.

^12:16 The su­pe­ri­or man perfects the good in peo­ple, he does­nʼt per­fect the bad. The in­fe­ri­or man does the op­po­site.

^12:19 Ji Kangzi asked Con­fu­cius about gov­ern­ment: “What if I were to kill those who donʼt fol­low the Way in or­der to help those who do?” Con­fu­cius said, “In ad­min­is­tering your gov­ern­ment, what use is kill­ing? If you de­sire what is good, the peo­ple will be good. The vir­tue of the su­pe­ri­or man is like the wind, and the vir­tue of the in­fe­ri­or man is like the grass. When the wind blows, the grass is sure to bend.”

^12:20 Zizhang asked, “When can a gen­tle­man be called dis­tin­guished? By this I mean that he is sure to be known in his state and in his clan.” Con­fu­cius said, “That is fame, not dis­tinc­tion. A dis­tin­guished man has up­right char­ac­ter, loves what is right, examines what peo­ple say and observes their fa­cial ex­pres­sions, and is mind­ful of def­er­ence to others. Such a man will be dis­tin­guished in his state and in his clan. As for fame, itʼs e­nough to be whol­ly con­fi­dent about as­sum­ing the ap­pear­ance of be­nev­o­lence while act­ing to the con­tra­ry. Such a man is sure to be known in his state and in his clan.”

^12:21 Fan Chi asked, “How do I ac­cu­mu­late vir­tue, re­form wick­ed­ness, and rec­og­nize con­fu­sion?” Con­fu­cius said, “Ex­cel­lent ques­tion! Put the ef­fort be­fore the re­ward: is that not ac­cu­mu­lat­ing vir­tue? At­tack your own evil rath­er than the evil of others: is that not reforming wick­ed­ness? In a mo­ment of an­ger, to for­get your own safe­ty and that of your fam­i­ly: is that not con­fu­sion?”

^12:23 Zigong asked how to treat friends. Con­fu­cius said, “Loy­al­ly ad­vise them, and skill­ful­ly show them the Way. If that does­nʼt work, then stop. Donʼt dis­grace your­self.”

^13:1 Zilu asked about gov­ern­ment. Con­fu­cius said, “Set an ex­am­ple for them, and en­cour­age them. Be tire­less.”

^13:2 Zhonggong asked about gov­ern­ment. Con­fu­cius said, “Set an ex­am­ple for your officers. Grant par­don for mi­nor offenses. Pro­mote men of vir­tue and tal­ent.”

^13:3 A su­pe­ri­or man re­mains si­lent about things he does­nʼt un­der­stand. He permits no care­less­ness in his speech.

^13:5 Con­sid­er a man who can re­cite the three hun­dred Poems. If he fails when you en­trust him with gov­ern­ance, and can­not act on his own in­i­ti­a­tive, what use is all his learn­ing?

^13:6 If a man is up­right in his per­son­al con­duct, others will fol­low with­out him giv­ing orders. If a man is not up­right in his per­son­al con­duct, e­ven if he gives orders, others wonʼt o­bey.

^13:12 E­ven with a true king, it would still take a gen­er­a­tion for be­nev­o­lence to pre­vail.

^13:13 If a man can cor­rect him­self, what dif­fi­cul­ty will he have in governing? If he canʼt cor­rect him­self, how can he cor­rect others?

^13:15 A sin­gle say­ing can­not ru­in a coun­try, but there is one say­ing: “The on­ly pleas­ure of rul­ing is that no one con­tra­dicts you.” If a rul­er is good and no one con­tra­dicts him, thatʼs fi­ne. But if a rul­er is not good and no one con­tra­dicts him, then is­nʼt this al­most a say­ing that could ru­in a coun­try?

^13:16 The Gov­er­nor of She asked about gov­ern­ment. Con­fu­cius said, “Peo­ple near­by are pleased, and peo­ple far a­way come.”

^13:17 Zixia asked about gov­ern­ment. Con­fu­cius said, “Donʼt try to rush things. Donʼt look for small ad­van­tages. If you try to rush things, you wonʼt reach your goal. If you look for small ad­van­tages, you wonʼt ac­com­plish great things.”

^13:19 Be cour­te­ous at home. Be re­spect­ful in han­dling pub­lic af­fairs. Be loy­al in deal­ing with others. E­ven a­mong bar­bar­i­ans, you canʼt dis­card these.

^13:21 If I canʼt find mod­er­ate men to as­so­ci­ate with, I must find the reck­less and the cau­tious. The reck­less ad­vance to­wards the goal. The cau­tious have lines they wonʼt cross.

^13:23 A su­pe­ri­or man seeks har­mo­ny with­out con­form­i­ty. An in­fe­ri­or man seeks con­form­i­ty with­out har­mo­ny.

^13:24 Itʼs not e­nough for all the peo­ple to love you. Itʼs not e­nough for all the peo­ple to hate you. Itʼs bet­ter if the good peo­ple love you and the bad peo­ple hate you.

^13:25 If you try to please a su­pe­ri­or man with­out fol­low­ing the Way, he will not be pleased; but when employing others, he on­ly as­signs tasks ac­cord­ing to their ca­pac­i­ty. If you try to please an in­fe­ri­or man with­out fol­low­ing the Way, he will be pleased; but when employing others, he expects them to be good at eve­ry­thing.

^13:26 A su­pe­ri­or man has a dig­ni­fied ease with­out be­ing ar­ro­gant. An in­fe­ri­or man is ar­ro­gant with­out a dig­ni­fied ease.

^13:27 Firm, res­o­lute, sim­ple, slow to speak: these are close to be­nev­o­lence.

^14:1 To serve a state in which the Way prevails, then to con­tin­ue serv­ing it af­ter it has lost the Way. That is shame­ful.

^14:2 A gen­tle­man who is at­tached to ma­te­ri­al comforts is not wor­thy of be­ing called a gen­tle­man.

^14:4 A vir­tu­ous man will cer­tain­ly have some­thing to say, but a man with some­thing to say is not nec­es­sar­i­ly vir­tu­ous. A be­nev­o­lent man will cer­tain­ly be brave, but a brave man is not nec­es­sar­i­ly be­nev­o­lent.

^14:7 Can you love some­one with­out mak­ing them work hard? Can you be loy­al to some­one with­out in­struc­ting them?

^14:10 To be poor with­out re­sent­ment is dif­fi­cult; to be rich with­out ar­ro­gance is easy.

^14:12 A man who is wise, free from desires, brave, ac­com­plished, and al­so re­fined through rit­u­al and mu­sic may be called a com­plete man. But, does a com­plete man need all this now­a­days? If he sees prof­it and thinks of what is right; if he sees dan­ger and is ready to give his life; if he endures long hard­ship and does­nʼt for­get the words he lives by: he may be called a com­plete man.

^14:20 When your words are not hum­ble, itʼs dif­fi­cult to live up to them.

^14:22 Zilu asked how to serve a rul­er. Con­fu­cius said, “Donʼt use de­ceit when you op­pose him.”

^14:27 A su­pe­ri­or man is a­shamed if his words sur­pass his deeds.

^14:28 The Way of a su­pe­ri­or man has three things that I canʼt find in my­self: the be­nev­o­lent are not anx­ious, the wise are not con­fused, the brave are not a­fraid.

^14:29 Zigong was judg­ing oth­er peo­ple. Con­fu­cius said, “Zigong must be of such su­pe­ri­or char­ac­ter him­self that he has lei­sure for this. I donʼt.”

^14:30 Donʼt wor­ry that men donʼt rec­og­nize you; wor­ry about your own lack of abil­i­ty.

^14:31 To be the first to be a­ware of de­cep­tion or bad faith, with­out an­tic­i­pat­ing or sus­pect­ing it: is­nʼt that be­ing wor­thy?

^14:34 Some­one asked, “What do you think of the say­ing, ‘Re­pay re­sent­ment with kind­ness’?” Con­fu­cius said, “Then how will you re­pay kind­ness? Re­pay re­sent­ment with up­right­ness. Re­pay kind­ness with kind­ness.”

^14:35 No one un­der­stands me! I donʼt com­plain against Heav­en, nor do I blame men. I study here be­low, and I pen­e­trate up above. Who un­der­stands me? Heav­en does!

^14:36 Gongbo Liao had slandered Zilu. Zifu Jingbo said, “I have e­nough pow­er to have Gongbo Liaoʼs corpse dis­played in the mar­ket­place.” Con­fu­cius said, “If cir­cum­stances al­low, the Way will pre­vail; if not, the Way will be aban­doned. What ef­fect does Gongbo Liao have on these cir­cum­stances?”

^14:37 The highest vir­tue is to a­void the world; next, to a­void cer­tain places; next, to a­void cer­tain at­ti­tudes; next, to a­void cer­tain words.

^14:41 When those above love pro­pri­e­ty, the com­mon peo­ple are easy to lead.

^14:44 Con­fu­cius employed a boy to car­ry messages. Some­one asked, “Is he mak­ing any prog­ress?” Con­fu­cius said, “Heʼs not seek­ing prog­ress. He wants quick results.”

^15:2 A su­pe­ri­or man is stead­fast in the face of ad­ver­si­ty, while an in­fe­ri­or man is engulfed by it.

^15:5 Canʼt Shun be said to have achieved or­der with­out forc­ing? What did he do? He just sat rev­er­ent­ly on the throne, and faced due south.

^15:6 If your words are loy­al and trust­wor­thy, and your con­duct is sin­cere and re­spect­ful, then your con­duct will be prop­er e­ven a­mong bar­bar­i­ans. If your words are not loy­al and trust­wor­thy, and your con­duct is not sin­cere and re­spect­ful, how can your con­duct be prop­er, e­ven in your own neigh­bor­hood?

^15:8 If you fail to speak to a man who is ca­pa­ble of un­der­stand­ing, you waste the man. If you speak to a man who is in­ca­pa­ble of un­der­stand­ing, you waste your words. The wise waste nei­ther men nor words.

^15:9 A be­nev­o­lent man will not in­jure his be­nev­o­lence in or­der to save his life, but he might sac­ri­fice his life in or­der to achieve be­nev­o­lence.

^15:10 In what­ev­er coun­try youʼre liv­ing, serve its most vir­tu­ous officers, and be­friend its most be­nev­o­lent gentelmen. This is how to prac­tice be­nev­o­lence.

^15:12 If a man does­nʼt con­cern him­self with whatʼs far a­way, he will have sorrows near at hand.

^15:15 If you de­mand much from your­self and lit­tle from others, you will keep re­sent­ment at a dis­tance.

^15:18 A su­pe­ri­or man takes what is right as his ba­sis. He practices it with pro­pri­e­ty, dem­on­strates it with mod­es­ty, and completes it with good faith.

^15:20 A su­pe­ri­or man hates the thought of leav­ing the world with­out mak­ing a name for him­self. ²¹ A su­pe­ri­or man makes demands on him­self; an in­fe­ri­or man makes demands on others. ²² A su­pe­ri­or man is con­fi­dent with­out be­ing con­ten­tious; gathers with others but does­nʼt form cliques. ²³ A su­pe­ri­or man does­nʼt pro­mote a man be­cause of his words, and does­nʼt re­ject the words be­cause of the man.

^15:27 Clev­er words dis­rupt vir­tue. Im­pa­tience in small matters disrupts great plans.

^15:28  When eve­ry­one loves a man, you must in­ves­ti­gate. When eve­ry­one hates a man, you must in­ves­ti­gate.

^15:30 To have a fault and not cor­rect it is a fault in­deed.

^15:31 I once spent a whole day with­out eat­ing and a whole night with­out sleep­ing in or­der to think. I got noth­ing out of it. It would have been bet­ter to study.

^15:32 A su­pe­ri­or man makes his plans a­round the Way, not a­round food. A su­pe­ri­or man worries about the Way, not about pov­er­ty.

^15:36 In the pur­suit of be­nev­o­lence, donʼt yield e­ven to your teach­er.

^15:37 A su­pe­ri­or man is prin­ci­pled, but not rig­id.

^15:38 In serv­ing your rul­er, de­vo­tion to du­ty co­mes be­fore any thought of com­pen­sa­tion. ³⁹ In teach­ing, there is no such thing as so­cial class.

^15:40 Those who fol­low a dif­fer­ent Way canʼt make plans to­geth­er.

^15:41 In ex­press­ing your­self, get the point across then stop.