Transmitting, Not Creating述而第七

The Master said, "To keep things quietly in mind, to learn without tiring, to teach others without growing weary — what difficulty is there in this for me?"

The Master said, "Virtue left uncultivated, learning left undiscussed, hearing what is right and not being able to move toward it, seeing what is not good in myself and not being able to change it — this is my worry."

When the Master was at leisure, his bearing was relaxed and easy, and his face was mild.

The Master said, "How far gone I am in my decline! How long it has been since I last dreamed of the Duke of Zhou!"

The Master said, "Set your heart on the Way, lean on virtue, lean on humaneness, and roam in the arts (藝)."

The Master said, "To anyone who came bearing a bundle of dried meat or more, I have never refused my teaching."

The Master said, "If a man is not straining to know, I do not open the way for him. If he is not struggling to put it into words, I do not help him out. If I hold up one corner and he cannot come back with the other three, I do not go on."

When the Master ate beside someone in mourning, he never ate his fill. On a day when he had wailed, he did not sing.

The Master said to Yan Yuan, "To act when we are used and to withdraw when we are set aside — only you and I can do this." Zilu said, "If you led the three armies, whom would you take with you?" The Master said, "I would not take the man who fights a tiger bare-handed or wades across a river, and dies without regret. I would take one who comes to a task in fear, who loves to plan and so brings it to completion."

The Master said, "If wealth could be had by seeking it, I would do it even as a lowly man holding the whip. But if it cannot be had by seeking, I will follow what I love."

What the Master was careful about: the fast before sacrifice, war, and sickness.

In Qi the Master heard the Shao (韶), and for three months he did not know the taste of meat. He said, "I never imagined that the making of music could reach such a height."

Ran You said, "Will the Master take the side of the lord of Wei?" Zigong said, "Good, I will ask him." He went in and asked, "What sort of men were Bo Yi and Shu Qi?" "Worthy men of old." "Did they feel resentment?" "They sought humaneness and got humaneness. What was there to resent?" Zigong came out and said, "The Master will not take his side."

The Master said, "To eat coarse rice, to drink water, to bend my arm for a pillow — there is joy in the midst of this too. Wealth and rank gained without right are to me like a drifting cloud."

The Master said, "If a few more years were given to me, and at fifty I studied the Changes (易), I could be without great fault."

The Master used the standard speech for the Book of Songs, the Book of Documents, and the conduct of ritual. In all of these he used the standard speech.

The Duke of She asked Zilu about Confucius, and Zilu did not answer. The Master said, "Why did you not say this: 'He is the kind of man who in his eagerness forgets to eat, who in his joy forgets his cares, and does not know that old age is coming on.'"

The Master said, "I am not one who was born with knowledge. I love what is old, and I am diligent in seeking it."

The Master did not speak of the strange, of feats of strength, of disorder, or of spirits.

The Master said, "When three walk together, there is surely a teacher for me among them. I choose what is good in them and follow it, and what is not good in them I change in myself."

The Master said, "Heaven gave birth to the virtue in me. What can Huan Tui do to me?"

The Master said, "My young friends, do you think I hide things from you? I hide nothing from you. There is nothing I have done that I have not shared with you. That is Qiu (丘)."

The Master taught four things: letters, conduct, loyalty, and good faith.

The Master said, "A sage I cannot hope to see. If I could see a noble man, that would be enough." The Master said, "A good man I cannot hope to see. If I could see a man with constancy, that would be enough. To have nothing and pretend to have, to be empty and pretend to be full, to be in want and pretend to be at ease — constancy is hard indeed."

The Master fished with a line but not with a net, and he shot with a corded arrow but never at a roosting bird.

The Master said, "There are men, I suppose, who make things up without knowing. I do none of this. To hear much, choose what is good in it and follow it, and to see much and keep it in mind — this is next to knowing."

The people of Huxiang were hard to talk with. When a boy from there came to see the Master, the disciples were puzzled. The Master said, "I accepted his coming forward, not his going back. Why be so harsh? When a man cleanses himself and comes forward, I accept his cleanness. I do not vouch for his past."

The Master said, "Is humaneness far off? If I want humaneness, humaneness is here."

The minister of justice of Chen asked, "Did Duke Zhao know ritual?" Confucius answered, "He knew ritual." When Confucius had withdrawn, the minister bowed to Wuma Qi, brought him forward, and said, "I have heard that the noble man takes no sides. Does the noble man take sides after all? The lord took a wife from Wu who bore the same surname as his own, and she was called Wu Mengzi. If the lord knew ritual, who does not know ritual?" Wuma Qi reported this. The Master said, "I am fortunate. If I truly have a fault, others are sure to know it."

When the Master was among others who sang, and one of them sang well, he always had him sing it again, and then he joined in.

The Master said, "In letters I may be the equal of others, but in living out the noble man's way in my own person I have got nowhere yet."

The Master said, "Sagehood and humaneness — how could I dare claim them? But that I work at it without tiring and teach others without growing weary, this much may be said of me." Gongxi Hua said, "It is just this that we disciples cannot learn."

The Master was gravely ill, and Zilu asked to pray for him. The Master said, "Is there such a practice?" Zilu answered, "There is. The eulogies say, 'We pray for you to the spirits above and below.'" The Master said, "My praying has gone on a long time."

The Master said, "Extravagance leads to arrogance, thrift to meanness. Rather than be arrogant, better be mean."

The Master said, "The noble man is level and broad in mind. The small man is always full of care."

The Master was mild yet stern, commanding yet not fierce, respectful yet at ease.