The master used to teach four things: culture, morals, and manners, piety, and faithfulness.
In knowledge and in culture I am perhaps the equal of other men. I have not yet attained to perfection, nor are my knowledge and living consistent.
The master once being very ill, Tze-lu asked permission to pray for him. The master asked, "Is that customary?" "It is," replied the disciple, "for the memorials have it, 'Pray to the spirits in heaven above and on earth below.'" The master replied, "I have for long prayed for myself, and that is best."
The master was dignified, yet gentle. He was majestic, but inspired no fear. He was gentlemanly, but always at ease.
Poetry rouses the mind, the rules of propriety establish the character, music crowns a man's education.
It would be hard to meet a man who has studied for three years without learning something good.
Learn as though you felt you could never learn enough, and as though you feared you could not learn in your short life what is needful for conduct.
A man from a certain village once said, "Confucius is, no doubt, a very learned man, but he has not made himself a name in any special thing." When the master heard this, he said to his disciples, "What shall I undertake: charioteering, archery, or what? I think I shall become a charioteer, and thus get me a name."
A high officer asked Tze-kung, "May we not say that the master is a sage because he can do so many things?" To which Tze-kung replied, "Heaven has indeed highly endowed him, and he is almost a sage; and he is verymany-sided."
On hearing this the master said, "Does the officer know me? Being of lowly birth when I was young, I learnt many a trade, but there was nothing great in that. The superior man may excel in one thing only, and not in many things."