1. The Master said, T'ai-po[72] may be said to have carried nobility furthest. Thrice he refused all below heaven. Men were at a loss how to praise him.
2. The Master said, Without good form attentions grow into fussiness, heed becomes fearfulness, daring becomes unruliness, frankness becomes rudeness. When gentlemen are true to kinsfolk, love will thrive among the people; if they do not forsake old friends, the people will not steal.
3. When Tseng-tzu lay sick he called his disciples and said, Uncover my feet, uncover my arms. The poem says,
As if a deep gulf
Were yawning below,
As crossing thin ice,
Take heed how ye go.
My little children, I have known how to keep myself unhurt until now and hereafter.[73]
4. When Tseng-tzu was sick Meng Ching[74] came to ask after him.
Tseng-tzu said, When a bird is dying his notes are sad; when man is dying his words are good. Three branches of the Way are dear to a gentleman: To banish from his bearing violence and disdain; to sort his face to the truth, and to banish from his speech what is low or unseemly. The ritual of chalice and platter[75] has servitors to see to it.
5. Tseng-tzu said, When we can, to ask those that cannot; when we are more, to ask those that are less; having, to seem wanting; real, to seem shadow; when gainsaid, never answering back; I had a friend[76] once that could do thus.
6. Tseng-tzu said, A man to whom an orphan, a few feet high, or the fate of an hundred towns, may be entrusted, and whom no crisis can corrupt, is he not a gentleman, a gentleman indeed?
7. Tseng-tzu said, The knight had need be strong and bold; for his burden is heavy, the way is far. His burden is love, is it not a heavy one? No halt before death, is that not far?