XIII. The Master Said, 'Your Good, Careful People Of The
Villages Are The Thieves Of Virtue.'
CHAP.
XIV.
The Master said, 'To tell, as we go along, what we
have heard on the way, is to cast away our virtue.'
CHAP. XV. 1. The Master said, 'There are those mean
creatures! How impossible it is along with them to serve one's
prince!
2. 'While they have not got their aims, their anxiety is how to
get them. When they have got them, their anxiety is lest they
should lose them.
3. 'When they are anxious lest such things should be lost,
there is nothing to which they will not proceed.'
CHAP. XVI. 1. The Master said, 'Anciently, men had three
failings, which now perhaps are not to be found.
2. 'The high-mindedness of antiquity showed itself in a
disregard of small things; the high-mindedness of the present day
shows itself in wild license. The stern dignity of antiquity showed
itself in grave reserve; the stern dignity of the present day shows
itself in quarrelsome perverseness. The stupidity of antiquity
showed itself in straightforwardness; the stupidity of the present
day shows itself in sheer deceit.'
CHAP. XVII. The Master said, 'Fine words and an insinuating
appearance are seldom associated with virtue.'
CHAP. XVIII. The Master said, 'I hate the manner in which
purple takes away the luster of vermilion. I hate the way in which
the songs of Chang confound the music of the Ya. I hate those who
with their sharp mouths overthrow kingdoms and families.'
CHAP. XIX. 1. The Master said, 'I would prefer not speaking.'
2. Tsze-kung said, 'If you, Master, do not speak, what shall
we, your disciples, have to record?'
3. The Master said, 'Does Heaven speak? The four seasons
pursue their courses, and all things are continually being produced,
but does Heaven say anything?'
CHAP. XX. Zu Pei wished to see Confucius, but Confucius
declined, on the ground of being sick, to see him. When the bearer
of this message went out at the door, (the Master) took his lute and
sang to it, in order that Pei might hear him.
CHAP. XXI. 1. Tsai Wo asked about the three years' mourning
for parents, saying that one year was long enough.
2. 'If the superior man,' said he, 'abstains for three years from
the observances of propriety, those observances will be quite lost.
If for three years he abstains from music, music will be ruined.
3. 'Within a year the old grain is exhausted, and the new grain
has sprung up, and, in procuring fire by friction, we go through all
the changes of wood for that purpose. After a complete year, the
mourning may stop.'
4. The Master said, 'If you were, after a year, to eat good rice,
and wear embroidered clothes, would you feel at ease?' 'I should,'
replied Wo.
5. The Master said, 'If you can feel at ease, do it.
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