CHAP. I. The Master said, 'A transmitter and not a maker,
believing in and loving the ancients, I venture to compare myself
with our old P'ang.'
CHAP. II. The Master said, 'The silent treasuring up of
knowledge; learning without satiety; and instructing others without
being wearied:-- which one of these things belongs to me?'
CHAP. III. The Master said, 'The leaving virtue without proper
cultivation; the not thoroughly discussing what is learned; not being
able to move towards righteousness of which a knowledge is
gained; and not being able to change what is not good:-- these are
the things which occasion me solicitude.'
CHAP. IV. When the Master was unoccupied with business, his
manner was easy, and he looked pleased.
CHAP. V. The Master said, 'Extreme is my decay. For a long
time, I have not dreamed, as I was wont to do, that I saw the duke
of Chau.'
CHAP. VI. 1. The Master said, 'Let the will be set on the path
of duty.
2. 'Let every attainment in what is good be firmly grasped.
3. 'Let perfect virtue be accorded with.
4. 'Let relaxation and enjoyment be found in the polite arts.'
CHAP. VII. The Master said, 'From the man bringing his
bundle of dried flesh for my teaching upwards, I have never
refused instruction to any one.'
CHAP. VIII. The Master said, 'I do not open up the truth to
one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any one who is
not anxious to explain himself. When I have presented one corner
of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it learn the other three,
I do not repeat my lesson.'
CHAP. IX. 1. When the Master was eating by the side of a
mourner, he never ate to the full.
2. He did not sing on the same day in which he had been
weeping.
CHAP. X. 1. The Master said to Yen Yuan, 'When called to
office, to undertake its duties; when not so called, to lie retired;-- it
is only I and you who have attained to this.'
2. Tsze-lu said, 'If you had the conduct of the armies of a
great State, whom would you have to act with you?'
3. The Master said, 'I would not have him to act with me, who
will unarmed attack a tiger, or cross a river without a boat, dying
without any regret. My associate must be the man who proceeds to
action full of solicitude, who is fond of adjusting his plans, and then
carries them into execution.'
CHAP. XI. The Master said, 'If the search for riches is sure to
be successful, though I should become a groom with whip in hand
to get them, I will do so. As the search may not be successful, I will
follow after that which I love.'
CHAP. XII. The things in reference to which the Master
exercised the greatest caution were -- fasting, war, and sickness.
CHAP. XIII. When the Master was in Ch'i, he heard the Shao,
and for three months did not know the taste of flesh. 'I did not
think'' he said, 'that music could have been made so excellent as
this.'
CHAP. XIV. 1. Yen Yu said, 'Is our Master for the ruler of
Wei?' Tsze-kung said, 'Oh! I will ask him.'
2. He went in accordingly, and said, 'What sort of men were
Po-i and Shu-ch'i?' 'They were ancient worthies,' said the Master.
'Did they have any repinings because of their course?' The Master
again replied, 'They sought to act virtuously, and they did so; what
was there for them to repine about?' On this, Tsze-kung went out
and said, 'Our Master is not for him.'
CHAP. XV. The Master said, 'With coarse rice to eat, with
water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow;-- I have still joy in
the midst of these things. Riches and honours acquired by
unrighteousness, are to me as a floating cloud.'
CHAP. XVI. The Master said, 'If some years were added to my
life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come
to be without great faults.'
CHAP. XVII The Master's frequent themes of discourse were--
the Odes, the History, and the maintenance of the Rules of
Propriety. On all these he frequently discoursed.
CHAP. XVIII. 1. The Duke of Sheh asked Tsze-lu about
Confucius, and Tsze-lu did not answer him.
2. The Master said, 'Why did you not say to him,-- He is
simply a man, who in his eager pursuit (of knowledge) forgets his
food, who in the joy of its attainment forgets his sorrows, and who
does not perceive that old age is coming on?'
CHAP. XIX. The Master said, 'I am not one who was born in
the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and
earnest in seeking it there.'
CHAP. XX. The subjects on which the Master did not talk,
were-- extraordinary things, feats of strength, disorder, and
spiritual beings.
CHAP. XXI. The Master said, 'When I walk along with two
others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good
qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them.'
CHAP. XXII. The Master said, 'Heaven produced the virtue
that is in me. Hwan T'ui-- what can he do to me?'
CHAP. XXIII. The Master said, 'Do you think, my disciples, that
I have any concealments? I conceal nothing from you. There is
nothing which I do that is not shown to you, my disciples;-- that is
my way.'
CHAP. XXIV. There were four things which the Master
taught,-- letters, ethics, devotion of soul, and truthfulness.
CHAP. XXV. 1. The Master said, 'A sage it is not mine to see;
could I see a man of real talent and virtue, that would satisfy me.'
2. The Master said, 'A good man it is not mine to see; could I
see a man possessed of constancy, that would satisfy me.
3. 'Having not and yet affecting to have, empty and yet
affecting to be full, straitened and yet affecting to be at ease:-- it is
difficult with such characteristics to have constancy.'
CHAP. XXVI. The Master angled,-- but did not use a net. He
shot,-- but not at birds perching.
CHAP. XXVII. The Master said, 'There may be those who act
without knowing why. I do not do so. Hearing much and selecting
what is good and following it; seeing much and keeping it in
memory:-- this is the second style of knowledge.'
CHAP. XXVIII. 1. It was difficult to talk (profitably and
reputably) with the people of Hu-hsiang, and a lad of that place
having had an interview with the Master, the disciples doubted.
2. The Master said, 'I admit people's approach to me without
committing myself as to what they may do when they have retired.
Why must one be so severe? If a man purify himself to wait upon
me, I receive him so purified, without guaranteeing his past
conduct.'
CHAP. XXIX. The Master said, 'Is virtue a thing remote? I wish
to be virtuous, and lo! virtue is at hand.'
CHAP. XXX. 1. The minister of crime of Ch'an asked whether
the duke Chao knew propriety, and Confucius said, 'He knew
propriety.'
2. Confucius having retired, the minister bowed to Wu-ma Ch'i
to come forward, and said, 'I have heard that the superior man is
not a partisan. May the superior man be a partisan also? The prince
married a daughter of the house of Wu, of the same surname with
himself, and called her,-- "The elder Tsze of Wu." If the prince
knew propriety, who does not know it?'
3. Wu-ma Ch'i reported these remarks, and the Master said, 'I
am fortunate! If I have any errors, people are sure to know them.'
CHAP. XXXI. When the Master was in company with a person
who was singing, if he sang well, he would make him repeat the
song, while he accompanied it with his own voice.
CHAP. XXXII. The Master said, 'In letters I am perhaps equal
to other men, but the character of the superior man, carrying out in
his conduct what he professes, is what I have not yet attained to.'
CHAP. XXXIII. The Master said, 'The sage and the man of
perfect virtue;-- how dare I rank myself with them? It may simply
be said of me, that I strive to become such without satiety, and
teach others without weariness.' Kung-hsi Hwa said, 'This is just
what we, the disciples, cannot imitate you in.'
CHAP. XXXIV. The Master being very sick, Tsze-lu asked leave
to pray for him. He said, 'May such a thing be done?' Tsze-lu
replied, 'It may. In the Eulogies it is said, "Prayer has been made
for thee to the spirits of the upper and lower worlds."' The Master
said, 'My praying has been for a long time.'
CHAP. XXXV. The Master said, 'Extravagance leads to
insubordination, and parsimony to meanness. It is better to be
mean than to be insubordinate.'
CHAP. XXXVI. The Master said, 'The superior man is satisfied
and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.'
CHAP. XXXVII. The Master was mild, and yet dignified;
majestic, and yet not fierce; respectful, and yet easy.