Chapter 1515장
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.
君子之道，辟如行遠必自邇，辟如登高必自卑。《詩》曰：「妻子好合，如鼓瑟琴。兄弟既翕，和樂且耽。宜爾室家，樂爾妻帑。」子曰：「父母其順矣乎！」
The way of the gentleman is like this. To go far, one must start from what is near. To climb high, one must start from what is low.
The Odes say, "Wife and children in glad accord, like the playing of lute and zither. Elder and younger brother already of one mind, joined in gladness and delight. Set your household in order. Take joy in your wife and children."
Confucius said, "How content your father and mother must be."