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.'
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?'
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.'
When the Master was unoccupied with business, his manner was easy, and he looked pleased.
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.'
The Master said:
The Master said, 'From the man bringing his bundle of dried flesh for my teaching upwards, I have never refused instruction to any one.'
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.'
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.'
The things in reference to which the Master exercised the greatest caution were — fasting, war, and sickness.
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.'
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.'
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.'
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.
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.'
The subjects on which the Master did not talk, were extraordinary things, feats of strength, disorder, and spiritual beings.
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.'
The Master said, 'Heaven produced the virtue that is in me. Hwan T'ui— what can he do to me?'
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.'
There were four things which the Master taught,— letters, ethics, devotion of soul, and truthfulness.
The Master angled,— but did not use a net. He shot,— but not at birds perching.
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.'
The Master said, 'Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! virtue is at hand.'
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.
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.'
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.'
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.'
The Master said, 'Extravagance leads to insubordination, and parsimony to meanness. It is better to be mean than to be insubordinate.'
The Master said, 'The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.'
The Master was mild, and yet dignified; majestic, and yet not fierce; respectful, and yet easy.
Next: Book 8