Chapter 66장
Zhongyong (The Doctrine of the Mean) It begins: "What Heaven decrees is called the nature. Following the nature is called the way. Cultivating the way is called teaching." Of the Four Books it is the one that reaches furthest.
The first half gathers the words of Confucius to say why the mean is so hard — all under heaven can be governed evenly, rank and pay can be declined, a bare blade can be trodden on, and still the mean cannot be done. The second half turns on truth alone, saying that truth is the way of Heaven and making oneself true is the way of man, and it goes at last to standing third beside Heaven and earth.
The saying "where another is able in one try, I make it a hundred; where another is able in ten, I make it a thousand" comes from here too.
子曰：「舜其大知也與！舜好問以好察邇言。隱惡而揚善。執其兩端，用其中於民。其斯以爲舜乎！」
Confucius said, "Shun was a man of great knowing. Shun loved to ask, and loved to look closely at plain words. He covered up what was bad and set forth what was good. He took hold of the two ends and used that center for the people. This is what made him Shun."