The Odes[1] are three hundred in number, but their purport may be summed up in a word:—Have no depraved thoughts.
Observe a man's actions; scrutinise his motives; take note of the things that give him pleasure. How then can he hide from you what he really is?
Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others.
The higher type of man is not like a vessel which is designed for some Special use.[2]
Study without thought is vain; thought without study is perilous.
Absorption in the study of the supernatural is most harmful.
Yu, shall I tell you what true knowledge is? When you know, to know that you know, and when you do not know, to know that you do not know—that is true knowledge.
Tzŭ Chang was studying with a view to official preferment. The Master said to him: Among the various things you hear said, reserve your judgment on those which seem doubtful, and give cautious utterance to the rest: then you will seldom fall into error. Among the various things you see done, set aside those which seem dangerous, and cautiously put the others into practice: then you will seldom have occasion for repentance. If you seldom err in your speech, and seldom have to repent of your actions, official preferment will come of itself.
The Master said: I do not see how a man without sincerity can be good for anything. How can a cart or carriage be made to go without yoke or cross-bar?