Transcript Document

Confucian Sampler
Confucian Sampler
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Analects 1.14
The Master said, ‘The gentleman seeks neither a full belly nor a comfortable home.
He is quick in action but cautious in speech. He goes to men possessed of the Way
to be put right. Such a man can be described as eager to learn.’
Confucian Sampler
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Analects 2.4
The Master said, ‘At fifteen I set my heart on learning; at thirty I took my stand; at
forty I came to be free from doubts; at fifty I understood the decree of Heaven; at
sixty my ear was attuned; at seventy I followed my heart’s desire without
overstepping the line.’
Confucian Sampler
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Analects 3.18
Tzu-hsia asked,
‘Her entrancing smile dimpling,
Her beautiful eyes glancing,*
Patterns of colour upon plain silk.’
What is the meaning of these lines?
The master said, ‘The colours are put in after the white.’
‘Does the practice of the rites likewise come afterwards?’
The master said, ‘It is you, Shang, who have thrown light on the text for me. Only
with a man like you can one discuss the Odes.’
* Ode 57
Confucian Sampler
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Analects 4.7
The Master said, ‘In his errors a man is true to type. Observe his errors and you will
know the man.’
Confucian Sampler
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Analects 6.18
The Master said, ‘When there is a preponderance of native substance over acquired
refinement, the result will be churlishness. When there is a preponderance of
acquired refinement over native substance, the result will be pedantry. Only a wellbalanced admixture of these two will result in gentlemanliness.’
Confucian Sampler
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Analects 8.9
The Master said, ‘the common people can be made to follow a path, but not to
understand it.’
Confucian Sampler
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Analects 11.11
When Yen Yuan died, the disciples wanted to give him a lavish burial. The Master
said, ‘It would not be proper.’ All the same they gave him a lavish burial. The master
said, ‘Hui treated me as a father, yet I have been prevented from treating him as a
son. This was none of my choice. It was the doing of these others.’