If, in the case of work to be done, the younger folks simply
take upon themselves the toil of it; or if, in the matter of meat and
drink, they simply set these before their elders--is this to be taken as
filial piety?"
Once the Master remarked, "I have conversed with Hwui the whole day
long, and he has controverted nothing that I have said, as if he were
without wits. But when his back was turned, and I looked attentively at
his conduct apart from me, I found it satisfactory in all its issues.
No, indeed! Hwui is not without his wits."
Other observations of the Master:--
"If you observe what things people (usually) take in hand, watch their
motives, and note particularly what it is that gives them satisfaction,
shall they be able to conceal from you what they are? Conceal
themselves, indeed!
"Be versed in ancient lore, and familiarize yourself with the modern;
then may you become teachers.
"The great man is not a mere receptacle."
In reply to Tsz-kung respecting the great man:--
"What he first says, as a result of his experience, he afterwards
follows up.
"The great man is catholic-minded, and not one-sided. The common man is
the reverse.
"Learning, without thought, is a snare; thought, without learning, is a
danger.
"Where the mind is set much upon heterodox principles--there truly and
indeed is harm.
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