Tzŭ Kung was for doing away with the customary sacrifice of a sheep on the first day of the month. The Master said: Ah, Tz‘ŭ, you grudge the loss of a sheep, but I grudge the loss of a ceremony.
The Master said: In any hamlet of a dozen houses you will surely find men as honest and conscientious as myself, though they may not be so devoted to ethical study.
The Master having gone to visit Nan Tzŭ,[1] Tzŭ Lu was displeased. Thereupon Confucius swore a solemn oath, saying: In whatsoever I have sinned, may I be abominable in the sight of God!
The Master said: My function is to indicate rather than to originate. Regarding antiquity as I do with trust and affection, I would venture to compare myself with our ancient patriarch P‘êng Tsu.[2]
The unpretentious hiving of wisdom, patient self-cultivation, and untiring instruction of others—to which of these can I make any claim?
The failure to cultivate virtue, the failure to examine and analyse what I have learnt, the inability to move towards righteousness after being shown the way, the inability to correct my faults—these are the causes of my grief.
Alas! what a falling-off is here! Long is it since I dreamt of Chou Kung.[3]
There is no one, from the man who brings me dried meat as payment upwards, to whom I have refused my instruction.
I do not expound my teaching to any who are not eager to learn; I do not help out any one who is not anxious to explain himself; if, after being shown one corner of a subject, a man cannot go on to discover the other three, I do not repeat the lesson.