20. At fifteen, I aspired to learning.
21. At thirty, I established my stand.
22. At forty, I had no illusions.
23. At fifty, I knew my destiny.
24. At sixty, I recognised truth when it came.
25. At seventy, I could follow my heart’s wishes without wrongdoing.
Chapter 2
1. Will you know a man? Examine his motives, note his course, take heed whether he is at ease. How can a man hide?
2. Exploring the old and deducing the new makes a teacher.
3. The nobler mind encompasses all and is not partial. The lesser mind is partial and does not encompass all.
4. To learn without thinking is to labour in vain.
5. To think without learning is desolation.
6. When you have erred, be not afraid to correct yourself. Have no associates in study who are not as advanced as yourself.
7. What is knowledge? It is to acknowledge that what is known is known, and that what is not known is not known.
8. What is wealth? Listen carefully and weigh: for the rest, speak prudently.
9. Observe carefully and weigh: for the rest, act prudently.
10. Thus there can be neither accusation nor remorse: that is wealth.
11. Preside with dignity and there is respect, preside with compassion and there is loyalty.
12. Elevate the good and teach the incapable, and there is encouragement.
13. To know what is right and not to do it is to be without courage.
Chapter 3
1. The master said, ‘If a person is without benevolence, what use is any outward show to hide the fact?
2. ‘In archery, to pierce the target is not the measure, but rather to hit the centre. This has always been the way.
3. ‘Those not benevolent cannot long endure adversity. The benevolent are at ease with benevolence. The wise profit from benevolence.
4. ‘To hear in the morning that benevolence prevails is to be able to die without regret at night.
5. ‘The good set their hearts on benevolence, others set their hearts on possessions.
6. ‘The good set their hearts on law, the others set their hearts on privilege.
7. ‘The good act before speaking, and afterwards speak according to their actions.
8. ‘When we see a man of worth, we should think of equalling him.
9. ‘When we see a man of no worth, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
10. ‘In regard to the aged, give them rest; in regard to friends, give them sincerity; in regard to the young, treat them tenderly.’
11. The master said, ‘Admirable indeed is the virtue of a man who has a single bowl of rice, a single gourd of drink, and lives in a mean narrow street, but does not allow his joy to be affected.’
12. The master said, ‘With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow, I still have joy in the midst of these things.
13. ‘Riches and honours acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud.
14. ‘Those who know the truth are not equal to those who love it,
15. ‘And those who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.
16. ‘The man of virtue makes it his first business to overcome difficulty, and makes success a secondary consideration only.
17. ‘The wise find pleasure in water, the virtuous find pleasure in hills.
18. ‘The wise are active, the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful, the virtuous are long-lived.
19. ‘The man of virtue, seeking to be established, seeks to establish others;
20. ‘Wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks to enlarge others.’
21. The master said, ‘When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers.
22. ‘I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them.
23. ‘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.
24. ‘Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! virtue is at hand.’
25. 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.’
26. The master said, ‘The sage and the man of perfect virtue; how dare I rank myself with them?
27. ‘It may simply be said of me, that I strive to become such without satiety, and teach others without weariness.’
28. When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are things to be ashamed of.
29. When a country is ill governed, riches and honour are things to be ashamed of.
30. The commander of the forces of a large state may be carried off, but the will of even a common man cannot be taken from him, if he refuses to let it go.
31. The wise are free from perplexities, the virtuous from anxiety, and the bold from fear.
32. One asked the master about death. The master said, ‘While you do not know about life, how can you know about death?’
Chapter 4
1. The master said, ‘To govern oneself is the way to the good. Is therefore the way to the good found by a man himself or found by others for him?
2. ‘To perfect one’s positive qualities without weariness, and to overcome bad qualities, is the way to the good.’
3. Asked about the relationship between good and bad qualities, the master said, ‘It is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it.’
4. The master said, ‘They think that distinction consists in being heard throughout the land. But this is not distinction, it is notoriety.
5. ‘The person of distinction is solid and straightforward, and loves what is right.
6. ‘He examines people’s words, and looks at their countenances.’
7. Asked how to exalt virtue, correct evil and do away with delusions, the master said, ‘By making your first business to do what is to be done, and treating success as a secondary consideration, that is how to exalt virtue.
8. ‘By assailing your own bad qualities and not delaying to do so while you assail the bad qualities of others, that is how to correct evil.’
9. Asked about benevolence, the master said, ‘It is to love all humankind.’
10. Asked about knowledge, he said, ‘It is to know humankind.’
11. Asked about friendship, he said, ‘Faithfully admonish your friend, and skilfully lead him forward.’
12. Asked what his first step would be on taking office, the master said, ‘To rectify names.
13. ‘If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things, and nothing can be done with success.’
14. The master said, ‘Do not desire to have things done quickly; do not look at small advantages.
15. ‘Seeking to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly.
16. ‘Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.’
Chapter 5
1. The master said, ‘The superior man is easy to serve and difficult to please.
2. ‘If you try to please him in ways not accordant with right, he will not be pleased.
3. ‘In his employment of men he uses them according to their capacity.’
4. The master said, ‘The inferior man is difficult to serve, and easy to please.
5. ‘If you try to please him in ways not accordant with right, he may be pleased.
6. ‘But in his employment of men he wishes them to be equal to everything.
7. ‘The firm, the enduring, the simple, the modest: such people are close to virtue.
8. ‘Boasting, resentment, covetousness, ignorance: these are the marks of inferiority.’
9. The master said, ‘It is hard not to complain when one is poor, but it is easy not to be proud when on
e is rich.
10. ‘Who is the good man? He who, when tempted by gain, thinks of righteousness;
11. ‘When faced with danger, summons his courage;
12. ‘And who never forgets an old promise, however far back it extends.
13. ‘When times are good, it is because people learn with a view to their own improvement.
14. ‘When times are bad, it is because people learn to win the approbation of others.’
15. The master said, ‘The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.’
16. The master said, ‘The way of the superior man is threefold, but I am not equal to it:
17. ‘Virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear.’
18. The master said, ‘I will not be concerned at people not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability.’
19. Someone asked the master, ‘What do you say of the principle that injury should be recompensed with kindness?’
20. The master replied, ‘With what then will you recompense kindness?
21. ‘Recompense injury with justice, and kindness with kindness.’
Chapter 6
1. The master was one day playing on a musical drum by a river, when a man carrying a straw basket passed by.
2. The man said, ‘His heart is full who so beats the musical drum!’
3. The master said, ‘Deep water must be crossed with one’s clothes on;
4. ‘Shallow water may be crossed with one’s clothes held up.
5. ‘He who requires more from himself than from others, will keep himself from being an object of resentment.
6. ‘When a person is not in the habit of saying, “What do I think of this? What shall I do in this case?” there is indeed little hope for him.
7. ‘When a number of people are together for a whole day without their conversation turning to questions about the good, theirs is a hard case.’
8. The master said, ‘To do one’s best with humility and sincerity: that is what it is to be a superior man.
9. ‘The superior man is distressed by his want of ability. He is not distressed by being unknown.
10. ‘What the superior man seeks is in himself. What the inferior man seeks is in others.
11. ‘The superior man is not a partisan. He seeks to grasp all things with justice.
12. ‘The superior man dislikes not having a good reputation after his death.
13. ‘The superior man does not value others solely on account of their words,
14. ‘Nor does he put aside good words on account of their speaker’s reputation, even if it is bad.
15. ‘The superior man cannot be known in little matters; he is proved by great things.
16. ‘The inferior man cannot be entrusted with great things; his failings will be seen in little matters.’
17. The master said, ‘In my dealings with others, whose evil do I blame, whose goodness do I praise, beyond what is just?
18. ‘If sometimes I give high praise, there must be grounds for it in my examination of that individual.’
19. The master said, ‘False words undo virtue. Want of forbearance in small things undoes great things.
20. ‘When the multitude hate a man, it is necessary to examine the case.
21. ‘When the multitude love a man, it is necessary to examine the case.
22. ‘For the multitude can hate what should be loved, and love what should be hated.’
Chapter 7
1. What is it to have faults? It is to have faults and not to reform them.
2. The master said, ‘Rightness is more to man than fire or water.
3. ‘I have seen men die from treading on water or fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of rightness.
4. ‘There are three friendships which are advantageous. These are friendships with the upright, with the sincere, and with those of much observation.
5. ‘There are three friendships which are injurious. These are friendships with those of specious airs, those who are insinuatingly soft, and those with glib tongues.
6. ‘There are three kinds of enjoyment which are advantageous. These are discriminating studies, speaking of the goodness of others, and possessing worthy friends.
7. ‘There are three kinds of enjoyment which are injurious. These are extravagant pleasures, idleness and sauntering about, and feasting.
8. ‘Three errors are committed by those who stand in the presence of a man of virtue and station.
9. ‘One is speaking out of turn, this is rashness.
10. ‘Another is keeping silent when it is time to speak, this is concealment.
11. ‘A third is speaking without looking interlocutors in the eye, this is prevarication.
12. ‘There are three things that the superior person guards against.
13. ‘In youth, he guards against excess. In the vigour of maturity, he guards against quarrelsomeness. In old age, he guards against covetousness.
14. ‘There are three things of which the superior man stands in awe. He stands in awe of the command of reason. He stands in awe of great men. He stands in awe of the wisdom of sages.
15. ‘The inferior person stands in awe only of what has power to harm his advantage, whether it is good or bad.
16. ‘In youth he indulges in excess, in maturity he is quarrelsome, in old age covetous.
17. ‘He speaks out of turn, conceals his meaning, looks no one in the eye.
18. ‘He is idle and indulgent, and his poor choice of friends confirms him in the ways of vice and inferiority.’
Chapter 8
1. The master said, ‘Most people cannot bear to see the sufferings of others; this is the good in our nature.
2. ‘If someone should see a child about to fall into a well, he will feel alarm and distress,
3. ‘Not to gain favour with the child’s parents, nor to seek the praise of their neighbours,
4. ‘Nor from fear of a reputation for being unmoved by such a thing.
5. ‘From this we may perceive that commiseration is essential to man, that feelings of shame and dislike are essential to man,
6. ‘That feelings of modesty and complaisance are essential to man, and that the feeling of approving and disapproving is essential to man.
7. ‘The feeling of commiseration is the principle of benevolence.
8. ‘The feeling of shame and dislike is the principle of righteousness.
9. ‘The feeling of modesty and complaisance is the principle of propriety.
10. ‘The feeling of approving and disapproving is the principle of knowledge.
11. ‘Men have these four principles just as they have four limbs.
12. ‘When men wilfully do not live according to these principles, they play the thief with themselves; they steal away their own better nature.
13. ‘Since all men have these four principles in themselves, let them give full development and completion to them,
14. ‘And the result will be like a fire which has begun to burn, or a spring which has begun to flow.
15. ‘Let the principles have their complete development, and they will suffice to love and protect all.
16. ‘Let them be denied development, and they will not suffice for a man even to honour his parents.’
17. The master said, ‘All things are already complete in us. There is no greater delight than to be conscious of sincerity when one examines oneself.
18. ‘Let a man not do what his own sense of rightness tells him not to do, and let him not desire what his sense of rightness tells him not to desire: to act thus is all he has to do.
19. ‘Benevolence is the natural state of our minds, and rightness is our path.
20. ‘How lamentable is it to neglect the path, and not pursue it; to lose this benevolence, and not know how to seek it again!
21. ‘When men’s dogs or sheep are lost, they know enough to look for them; but if they lose their v
irtue, they either do not know how to find it again, or do not care.
22. ‘The great end of learning is nothing else but to seek to know oneself and to maintain one’s understanding of rightness.’
Chapter 9
1. The master said, ‘The trees of the mountain were once beautiful.
2. ‘But being situated on the borders of a large state, they were hewn down with axes.
3. ‘Could they still retain their beauty? And yet, through the powers of life,
4. ‘Day and night, and with the nourishing influence of rain and dew,
5. ‘Their stumps produced buds and sprouts springing forth.
6. ‘But then came cattle and goats, and browsed upon the succulent sprouts, stripping them.
7. ‘To these things is owed the bare appearance of the mountain which, when people see it, they think was never finely wooded.
8. ‘But is what they see the nature of the mountain?
9. ‘And so also of what properly belongs to man: shall it be said that the mind of anyone was originally without the possibility of benevolence and rightness?
10. ‘The way in which a man loses his proper goodness is like the way that the trees are felled by axes.
11. ‘When its principles are hewn down day after day, can the mind retain its beauty?
12. ‘But there is a development of its life day and night,
13. ‘And in the calm air of the morning, just between night and day, the mind feels something of those desires and aversions which are proper to humanity;
14. ‘But the feeling is not strong, and it is hindered and destroyed by what takes place during the day.
15. ‘This destruction taking place again and again, the restorative influence of quiet times is not sufficient to preserve the mind’s proper goodness.
16. ‘And when this proves insufficient, man’s nature ceases to be much different from that of the irrational animals.
17. ‘When they see this, people think that the mind never had powers of natural goodness.
18. ‘But does this condition represent the feelings proper to humanity ?
19. ‘If it receive its proper nourishment, there is nothing which will not grow.
20. ‘If it lose its proper nourishment, there is nothing which will not decay away.
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