The Analects

OOK XV. WEI LING KUNG.

CHAP. I. 1. The Duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius about
tactics. Confucius replied, 'I have heard all about sacrificial vessels,
but I have not learned military matters.' On this, he took his
departure the next day.
2. When he was in Chan, their provisions were exhausted, and
his followers became so ill that they were unable to rise.
3. Tsze-lu, with evident dissatisfaction, said, 'Has the superior
man likewise to endure in this way?' The Master said, 'The superior
man may indeed have to endure want, but the mean man, when he
is in want, gives way to unbridled license.'

CHAP. II. 1. The Master said, 'Ts'ze, you think, I suppose, that
I am one who learns many things and keeps them in memory?'
2. Tsze-kung replied, 'Yes,-- but perhaps it is not so?'
3. 'No,' was the answer; 'I seek a unity all-pervading.'
CHAP. III. The Master said, 'Yu, those who know virtue are
few.'
CHAP. IV. The Master said, 'May not Shun be instanced as
having governed efficiently without exertion? What did he do? He
did nothing but gravely and reverently occupy his royal seat.'
CHAP. V. 1. Tsze-chang asked how a man should conduct
himself, so as to be everywhere appreciated.
2. The Master said, 'Let his words be sincere and truthful, and
his actions honourable and careful;-- such conduct may be practised
among the rude tribes of the South or the North. If his words be

not sincere and truthful and his actions not honourable and careful,
will he, with such conduct, be appreciated, even in his
neighborhood?
3. 'When he is standing, let him see those two things, as it
were, fronting him. When he is in a carriage, let him see them
attached to the yoke. Then may he subsequently carry them into
practice.'
4. Tsze-chang wrote these counsels on the end of his sash.
CHAP. VI. 1. The Master said, 'Truly straightforward was the
historiographer Yu. When good government prevailed in his State,
he was like an arrow. When bad government prevailed, he was like
an arrow.
2. A superior man indeed is Chu Po-yu! When good
government prevails in his state, he is to be found in office. When
bad government prevails, he can roll his principles up, and keep
them in his breast.'

CHAP. VII. The Master said, 'When a man may be spoken
with, not to speak to him is to err in reference to the man. When a
man may not be spoken with, to speak to him is to err in reference
to our words. The wise err neither in regard to their man nor to
their words.'
CHAP. VIII. The Master said, 'The determined scholar and the
man of virtue will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their
virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue
complete.'
CHAP. IX. Tsze-kung asked about the practice of virtue. The
Master said, 'The mechanic, who wishes to do his work well, must
first sharpen his tools. When you are living in any state, take
service with the most worthy among its great officers, and make
friends of the most virtuous among its scholars.'
CHAP. X. 1. Yen Yuan asked how the government of a country
should be administered.
2. The Master said, 'Follow the seasons of Hsia.

3. 'Ride in the state carriage of Yin.
4. 'Wear the ceremonial cap of Chau.
5. 'Let the music be the Shao with its pantomimes.
6. Banish the songs of Chang, and keep far from specious
talkers. The songs of Chang are licentious; specious talkers are
dangerous.'
CHAP. XI. The Master said, 'If a man take no thought about
what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.'
CHAP. XII. The Master said, 'It is all over! I have not seen one
who loves virtue as he loves beauty.'
CHAP. XIII. The Master said, 'Was not Tsang Wan like one
who had stolen his situation? He knew the virtue and the talents

of Hui of Liu-hsia, and yet did not procure that he should stand
with him in court.'
CHAP. XIV. The Master said, 'He who requires much from
himself and little from others, will keep himself from being the
object of resentment.'
CHAP. XV. The Master said, 'When a man is not in the habit of
saying-- "What shall I think of this? What shall I think of this?" I
can indeed do nothing with him!'
CHAP. XVI. The Master said, 'When a number of people are
together, for a whole day, without their conversation turning on
righteousness, and when they are fond of carrying out the
suggestions of a small shrewdness;-- theirs is indeed a hard case.'
CHAP. XVII. The Master said, 'The superior man in everything
considers righteousness to be essential. He performs it according to
the rules of propriety. He brings it forth in humility. He completes it
with sincerity. This is indeed a superior man.'

CHAP. XVIII. The Master said, 'The superior man is distressed
by his want of ability. He is not distressed by men's not knowing
him.'
CHAP. XIX. The Master said, 'The superior man dislikes the
thought of his name not being mentioned after his death.'
CHAP. XX. The Master said, 'What the superior man seeks, is
in himself. What the mean man seeks, is in others.'
CHAP. XXI. The Master said, 'The superior man is dignified,
but does not wrangle. He is sociable, but not a partizan.'
CHAP. XXII. The Master said, 'The superior man does not
promote a man simply on account of his words, nor does he put
aside good words because of the man.'

CHAP. XXIII. Tsze-kung asked, saying, 'Is there one word
which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life?' The Master
said, 'Is not RECIPROCITY such a word? What you do not want done
to yourself, do not do to others.'
CHAP. XXIV. 1. The Master said, 'In my dealings with men,
whose evil do I blame, whose goodness do I praise, beyond what is
proper? If I do sometimes exceed in praise, there must be ground
for it in my examination of the individual.
2. 'This people supplied the ground why the three dynasties
pursued the path of straightforwardness.'
CHAP. XXV. The Master said, 'Even in my early days, a
historiographer would leave a blank in his text, and he who had a
horse would lend him to another to ride. Now, alas! there are no
such things.'

CHAP. XXVI. The Master said, 'Specious words confound
virtue. Want of forbearance in small matters confounds great plans.'
CHAP. XXVII. The Master said, 'When the multitude hate a
man, it is necessary to examine into the case. When the multitude
like a man, it is necessary to examine into the case.'
CHAP. XXVIII. The Master said, 'A man can enlarge the
principles which he follows; those principles do not enlarge the
man.'
CHAP. XXIX. The Master said, 'To have faults and not to
reform them,-- this, indeed, should be pronounced having faults.'
CHAP. XXX. The Master said, 'I have been the whole day

without eating, and the whole night without sleeping:-- occupied
with thinking. It was of no use. The better plan is to learn.'
CHAP. XXXI. The Master said, 'The object of the superior man
is truth. Food is not his object. There is plowing;-- even in that
there is sometimes want. So with learning;-- emolument may be
found in it. The superior man is anxious lest he should not get truth;
he is not anxious lest poverty should come upon him.'
CHAP. XXXII. 1. The Master said, 'When a man's knowledge is
sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to
hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again.
2. 'When his knowledge is sufficient to attain, and he has
virtue enough to hold fast, if he cannot govern with dignity, the
people will not respect him.
3. 'When his knowledge is sufficient to attain, and he has
virtue enough to hold fast; when he governs also with dignity, yet if
he try to move the people contrary to the rules of propriety:-- full
excellence is not reached.'

CHAP. XXXIII. The Master said, 'The superior man cannot be
known in little matters; but he may be intrusted with great
concerns. The small man may not be intrusted with great concerns,
but he may be known in little matters.'
CHAP. XXXIV. The Master said, 'Virtue is more to man than
either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water
and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course
of virtue.'
CHAP. XXXV. The Master said, 'Let every man consider virtue
as what devolves on himself. He may not yield the performance of
it even to his teacher.'

CHAP. XXXVI. The Master said, 'The superior man is correctly
firm, and not firm merely.'
CHAP. XXXVII. The Master said, 'A minister, in serving his
prince, reverently discharges his duties, and makes his emolument
a secondary consideration.'
CHAP. XXXVIII. The Master said, 'In teaching there should be
no distinction of classes.'
CHAP. XXXIX. The Master said, 'Those whose courses are
different cannot lay plans for one another.'
CHAP. XL. The Master said, 'In language it is simply required
that it convey the meaning.'
CHAP. XLI. 1. The Music-master, Mien, having called upon
him, when they came to the steps, the Master said, 'Here are the
steps.' When they came to the mat for the guest to sit upon, he

said, 'Here is the mat.' When all were seated, the Master informed
him, saying, 'So and so is here; so and so is here.'
2. The Music-master, Mien, having gone out, Tsze-chang
asked, saying. 'Is it the rule to tell those things to the Music-
master?'
3. The Master said, 'Yes. This is certainly the rule for those
who lead the blind.'