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Be faithful and true of word, plain and lowly in thy walk; thou wilt get on even in tribal lands. If thy words be not faithful and [76]true, thy walk not plain and lowly, wilt thou get on even in thine own town?
By asking much of self and little of other men ill feeling is banished.
The Master said, Right is the stuff of which a gentleman is made. Done with courtesy, spoken with humility, rounded with truth, right makes a gentleman.
His shortcomings trouble a gentleman; to be unknown does not trouble him.
A gentleman asks of himself, the small man asks of others.
A gentleman is firm, not quarrelsome; a friend, not a partisan.
A gentleman does not raise a man for his words, nor spurn the...
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Do not do unto others what thou wouldst not have done to thee.
Cunning words confound the mind; petty impatience confounds great projects.
The hatred of the many must be looked into; the love of the many must be looked into.
The Master said, I have spent whole days[79] without food and whole nights without sleep, thinking, and gained nothing by it. Learning is better.
A gentleman has no small knowledge, but he can carry out big things: the small man can carry out nothing big, but he may be knowing in small things.
A gentleman is consistent, not changeless.
Learning knows no rank.
When the Way is kept below heaven common folk do not argue.[83]
There are three delights that do good, and three that do us harm. Those that do good are delight in dissecting good form and music, delight in speaking of the good in men, and delight in having many worthy friends. Those that do harm are proud delights, delight in idle roving, and delight in the joys of the feast.
To speak before the time has come is rashness. Not to speak when the time has come is secrecy. To speak heedless of looks is blindness.
Confucius said, A gentleman has three things to guard against. In the days of thy youth, ere thy strength is steady, beware of lust. When manhood is reached, in the fulness of strength, beware of strife. I...
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The best men are born wise. Next come those that grow wise by learning; then those that learn from toil. Those that do not learn from toil are the lowest of the people.
A gentleman has nine aims. To see clearly; to understand what he hears; to be warm in manner, dignified in bearing, faithful of speech, keen at work; to ask when in doubt; in anger to think of difficulties; and in sight of gain to think of right.
The days and months go by; the years do not wait for us.
Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.
Modesty and bounty, said Confucius, truth, earnestness and kindness. Modesty escapes insult: bounty wins the many; truth gains men's trust; earnestness brings success; and kindness is enough to make men work.
Sit down, and I shall tell thee. The thirst for love, without love of learning, sinks into simpleness. Love of knowledge, without love of learning, sinks into vanity. Love of truth, without love of learning, sinks into cruelty. Love of straightness, without love of learning, sinks into rudeness. Love of daring, without love of learning, sinks into turbulence. Love of strength, without love of learning, sinks into oddity.
The Master said, It is hard indeed when a man eats his fill all day, and has nothing to task the mind! Could he not play at chequers? Even that were better.
The Master said, When a man of forty is hated, he will be so to the end.
Until they trust him, a gentleman lays no burdens on his people. If they do not trust him, they will think it cruel. Until they trust him, he does not chide them. Unless they trust him, it will seem fault-finding.
With his spare strength a scholar should serve the crown.
Man never shows what is in him unless it be in mourning those dear to him.
Words must not be lightly spoken.
Keep true hold of the centre.
A gentleman is kind, but not wasteful; he burdens, but he does not embitter; he is covetous, but not greedy; high-minded, but not proud; stern, but not fierce.
To leave untaught and then kill is cruelty; not to give warning and to expect things to be done is tyranny; to give careless orders and be strict when the day comes is robbery; to be stingy in rewarding men is littleness.
