Tsêng Tzŭ said: Ability asking instruction of incompetence, abundance sitting at the feet of insufficiency, a man of every virtue who thought he had none, solid in character yet making himself out a cypher, trespassed against but never retaliating—such was the humble state of mind in which my late friend[7] spent his life.
Tsêng Tzŭ said: If a man can safely be entrusted with the care of a young orphan prince, or with the government of a large province, and if the approach of a great emergency cannot shake his resolution, is he not a man of the princely type? Of the princely type he is indeed!
The authorities of Lu were proposing to reconstruct the Long Treasury. Min Tzŭ-ch‘ien said: Why not restore it, rather, in the ancient style? Why is it necessary to renovate it altogether?—The Master said: This man is no talker, but when he does speak, he speaks to the purpose.
Ssŭ-ma Niu lamenting said: All other men have brothers; I alone have none.—Tzŭ Hsia said to him: I have heard it said that life and death are divine dispensations, that wealth and rank depend on the will of God. The higher type of man is unfailingly attentive to his own conduct, and shows respect and true courtesy to others. Thus all within the four seas[8] are his brethren. How then should he grieve at having no brothers?
Chi Tzŭ-ch‘êng[9] said: The higher type of man is possessed of solid qualities, and that is all. What has he to do with the ornamental?—Tzŭ Kung replied: I am sorry, Sir, to hear you say such a thing about the higher type of man; for a four-horse chariot cannot overtake the spoken word.[10] The value of the ornament and the value of the substance are closely connected. Stripped of hair, the hide of a tiger or a leopard is very like the hide of a dog or a sheep.
Duke Ai asked Yu Jo, saying: It has been a year of famine. My exchequer is Low. What am I to do?—Yu Jo replied: Why not collect tithes?—Why, said the Duke, with a tax of two-tenths I still have not enough. How am I to make one-tenth do?—If the people have plenty, was the reply, how can the Prince alone be in want? But if the people are in want, how can the Prince alone have plenty?[11]
Tsêng Tzŭ said of the higher type of man that his culture tended to bring him into communion with friends, and his friendships tended to heighten his altruism.
The disciples of Tzŭ Hsia asked Tzŭ Chang about the principles which should govern friendship. Tzŭ Chang said: What is Tzŭ Hsia's opinion?—They replied: Tzŭ Hsia says, Associate with those who come up to your standard; reject all those who do not.—This, said Tzŭ Chang, is different from what I have been taught. The nobler sort of man honours the virtuous and wise, but he admits to his society all men without distinction. He admires the good, but he also pities the weaker brethren. Am I a man of great wisdom and goodness?—then who is there among my fellow-men that I will not bear with? Or am I neither wise nor good?—then other men will reject me. How can one justify this rejection of others?[12]
Tzŭ Hsia said: The inferior type of man always tries to gloss over his faults.
Tzŭ Hsia said: The wise man will gain the confidence of the people before laying burdens upon them; otherwise, they will consider it oppression. He will gain the confidence of his sovereign before censuring his actions; otherwise, the latter will consider it mere libel and abuse.