Confucius

6.18 The Master said, “When native substance overwhelms cultural refinement, the result is a crude rustic. When cultural refinement overwhelms native substance, the result is a foppish pedant. Only when culture and native substance are perfectly mixed and balanced do you have a gentleman.”

7.8 The Master said, “I will not open the door for a mind that is not already striving to understand, nor will I provide words to a tongue that is not already struggling to speak. If I hold up one corner of a problem, and the student cannot come back to me with the other three, I will not attempt to instruct him again.”

8.2 The Master said, “If you are respectful but lack ritual you will become exasperating; if you are careful but lack ritual you will become timid; if you are courageous but lack ritual you will become unruly; and if you are upright but lack ritual you will become inflexible.”

8.17 The Master said, “Learn as if you will never catch up, and as if you feared losing what you have already attained.”

9.2 A villager from Daxiang remarked sarcastically, “How great is Confucius! He is so broadly learned, and yet has failed to make a name for himself in any particular endeavor.”

When the Master was told of this, he said to his disciples, “What art, then, should I take up? Charioteering? Archery? I think I shall take up charioteering.”

9.8 The Master said, “Do I possess wisdom? No, I do not. [For example, recently] a common fellow asked a question of me, and I came up completely empty. But I discussed the problem with him from beginning to end until we finally got to the bottom of it.

9.13 Zigong said, “If you possessed a piece of beautiful jade, would you hide it away in a locked box, or would you try to sell it at a good price?

The Master responded, “Oh, I would sell it! I would sell it! I am just waiting for the right offer.”

9.14 The Master expressed a desire to go and live among the Nine Yi Barbarian tribes. Someone asked him, “How could you bear their uncouthness?”

The Master replied, “If a gentleman were to dwell among them, what uncouthness would there be?”

9.18 The Master said, “I have yet to meet a man who loves Virtue as much as he loves female beauty.”

11.4 The Master said, “Yan Hui is of no help to me — he is pleased with everything that I say.”

12.8 Ji Zicheng said, “Being a gentleman is simply a matter of having the right native substance, and nothing else. Why must one engage in cultural refinement?”

Zigong replied, “It is regrettable, Sir, that you should speak of the gentleman in this way — as they say, ‘a team of horses cannot overtake your tongue.’

“A gentleman’s cultural refinement resembles his native substance, and his native substance resembles his cultural refinement. The skin of a tiger or leopard, shorn of its fur, is no different from the skin of a dog or sheep.”

13.21 The Master said, “If you cannot manage to find a person of perfectly balanced conduct to associate with, I suppose you must settle for the wild or the fastidious. In their pursuit of the Way, the wild plunge right in, while the fastidious are always careful not to get their hands dirty.”

14.3 The Master said, “When the state possesses the Way, be audaciously correct in both word and action; when the state lacks the Way, be audaciously correct in action, but let one’s speech be conciliatory.”

14.10 The Master said, “It is difficult to be poor and still free of resentment, but relatively easy to be rich without being arrogant.”

14.22 Zilu asked about serving one’s lord.

The Master replied, “Do not deceive him. Oppose him openly.”

14.24 The Master said, “In ancient times scholars learned for their own sake; these days they learn for the sake of others.”

14.25 Qu Boyu sent a messenger to Confucius. Confucius sat down beside him and asked, “How are things with your Master?”

The messenger replied, “My Master wishes to reduce his faults, but has not yet been able to do so.”

After the messenger left, the Master said, “Now that is a messenger! That is a messenger!”

14.28 The Master said, “The Way of the gentleman is threefold, and yet I have not been able to achieve any aspect of it: ‘The Good do not worry, the wise are not confused, and the courageous do not fear.’”

Zigong replied, “[By quoting this saying], the Master has in fact described himself.”

14.29 Zigong was given to criticizing others.

The Master remarked sarcastically, “What a worthy man that Zigong must be! As for me, I hardly have the time for this.”

15.16 The Master said, “I have never been able to do anything for a person who is not himself constantly asking, ‘What should I do? What should I do?’”

15.17 The Master said, “People who can spend an entire day together indulging their predilection for petty cleverness, without their conversation ever once touching upon rightness — these are hard cases indeed!”

15.36 The Master said, “When it comes to being Good, defer to no one, not even your teacher.”

17.8 The Master said, “Zilu! Have you heard about he six [virtuous] words and their six corresponding vices?”

Zilu replied, “I have not.”

“Sit! I will tell you about them.

“Loving Goodness without balancing it with a love for learning will result in the vice of foolishness. Loving wisdom without balancing it with a love for learning will result in the vice of deviance. Loving trustworthiness without balancing it with a love for learning will result in the vice of harmful rigidity. Loving uprightness without balancing it with a love for learning will result in the vice of intolerance. Loving courage without balancing it with a love for learning will result in the vice of unruliness. Loving resoluteness without balancing it with a love for learning will result in the vice of willfulness.”

19.19 When the Meng Family appointed Yang Fu to be their Captain of the Guard, he went to ask Master Zeng for advice. Master Zeng said, “It has been a long time since those above lost the Way, and so the people lack guidance. When you uncover the truth in a criminal case, proceed with sorrow and compassion. Do not be pleased with yourself.”

19.24 Shusun Wushu was disparaging Confucius.

Zigong said, “It is pointless, Confucius cannot be disparaged. The worthiness of other people is like a hill or mound, in that one can still climb to the top of it. Confucius is like the sun and the moon — it is impossible to surmount him. Even if a person wished to cut himself off from their radiance, what harm could he do to the sun and the moon? All this would serve to show is that such a person did not know his limits.”

- The Analects of Confucius, translated by Edward Slingerland