"It is not given to me," he said, "to meet with a sage; let me but
behold a man of superior mind, and that will suffice. Neither is it
given to me to meet with a good man; let me but see a man of constancy,
and it will suffice. It is difficult for persons to have constancy, when
they pretend to have that which they are destitute of, to be full when
they are empty, to do things on a grand scale when their means are
contracted!"
When the Master fished with hook and line, he did not also use a net.
When out with his bow, he would never shoot at game in cover.
"Some there may be," said he, "who do things in ignorance of what they
do. I am not of these. There is an alternative way of knowing things,
viz.--to sift out the good from the many things one hears, and follow
it; and to keep in memory the many things one sees."
Pupils from Hu-hiang were difficult to speak with. One youth came to
interview the Master, and the disciples were in doubt whether he ought
to have been seen. "Why so much ado," said the Master, "at my merely
permitting his approach, and not rather at my allowing him to draw back?
If a man have cleansed himself in order to come and see me, I receive
him as such; but I do not undertake for what he will do when he goes
away."
"Is the philanthropic spirit far to seek, indeed?" the Master exclaimed;
"I wish for it, and it is with me!"
The Minister of Crime in the State of Ch'in asked Confucius whether Duke
Ch'an, of Lu was acquainted with the Proprieties; and he answered, "Yes,
he knows them.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59