During a respite from his malady the Master exclaimed, "Ah! how long has
Tsz-lu's conduct been false? Whom should I delude, if I were to pretend
to have officials under me, having none? Should I deceive Heaven?
Besides, were I to die, I would rather die in the hands of yourselves,
my disciples, than in the hands of officials. And though I should fail
to have a grand funeral over me, I should hardly be left on my death on
the public highway, should I?"
Tsz-kung once said to him, "Here is a fine gem. Would you guard it
carefully in a casket and store it away, or seek a good price for it and
sell it?" "Sell it, indeed," said the Master--"that would I; but I
should wait for the bidder."
The Master protested he would "go and live among the nine wild tribes."
"A rude life," said some one;--"how could you put up with it?"
"What rudeness would there be," he replied, "if a 'superior man' was
living in their midst?"
Once he remarked, "After I came back from Wei to Lu the music was put
right, and each of the Festal Odes and Hymns was given its appropriate
place and use."
"Ah! which one of these following," he asked on one occasion, "are to be
found exemplified in me--proper service rendered to superiors when
abroad; duty to father and elder brother when at home; duty that shrinks
from no exertion when dear ones die; and keeping free from the confusing
effects of wine?"
Standing once on the bank of a mountain stream, he said (musingly),
"Like this are those that pass away--no cessation, day or night!"
Other sayings:--
"Take an illustration from the making of a hill.
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