"Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with virtue."

"The doings of the supreme Heaven have neither sound nor smell-that is perfect virtue.” * sound

The Master said, "By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart."

"There are only the wise of the highest class and the stupid of the lowest class who cannot be changed."

"Without recognizing the ordinances of Heaven,† it is impossible to be a superior man."

"Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.”

"Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know men."‡

"The superior man bends his attention to what is radical. That being established, all practical courses naturally grow up. Filial piety and fraternal submission! are they not the root of all benevolent actions?"

Tsae Go asked, saying, "A benevolent man, though it be told him, 'There is a man in the well,' will go in after him, I suppose." Confucius said, "Why should he do so? A superior man may be made to go to the well, but he cannot be made to go down into it. He may be imposed upon, but he cannot be befooled." §

*The acts of Heaven are perfectly pure-free from all human imperfections.

†The will of Heaven regarding right and wrong, of which man has the standard in his own moral nature.

Words are the voice of the heart. To know a man we must attend well to what and how he thinks.

§ The benevolent exercise their benevolence with prudence.

Fan Ch'e asked about benevolence.

The Master said,

"It is to love all men." He asked about knowledge. The Master said, "It is to know all men."

Some one said, "What do you say concerning the principle that injury should be recompensed with kindness?" The Master said, "With what, then, will you recompense kindness?

"Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness."*

NO EXAMPLES OF PERFECT VIRTUE,

The Master said, “A sage it is not mine to see ; could I see a man of real talent and virtue, that would satisfy

me."

"A good man it is not mine to see; could I see a man possessed of constancy, that would satisfy me."

"Is any one able for one day to apply his strength to virtue? I have not seen the case in which his strength would be sufficient.

"Should there possibly be any such case, I have not seen it."

THE RULE OF LIFE IN ONE WORD.

The Master said, "I have not seen a firm and unbending man." Some one replied, "There is Shin Ch'ang." "Ch'ang," said the Master, "is under the in

*There is another Book which says, "Do good to them which hate you."

fluence of his passions; how can he be pronounced firm and unbending?'

Tsze-Kung said, "What I do not wish men to do to me, I also wish not to do to men." The Master said, have not attained to that."

66 Tsze, you

Tsze-Kung asked, saying, "Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life?" The Master said, "Is not RECIPROCITY such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others."*

66

THE SUPERIOR MAN-THE BEAU IDEAL OF VIRTUE.

Tsze-Kung asked what constituted the superior man. The Master said, "He acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions."

The Master said, "The superior man is catholic, and no partisan. The mean man is a partisan, and not cath

olic.”

"The mind of the superior man is conversant with righteousness; the mind of the mean man is conversant with gain."

"The superior man wishes to be slow in his words, and earnest in his conduct."

The Master said of Tsze-ch'an that he had four of the characteristics of a superior man in his conduct of himself, he was humble; in serving his superiors, he was respectful; in nourishing the people, he was kind; in ordering the people, he was just.”

*The rule given in the Sermon on the Mount is more comprehensive; it reads, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."

ERSITY OF MICH

"When Ch'ih was proceeding to Ts'e, he had fat horses to his carriage, and wore light furs. I have heard that a superior man helps the distressed, but does not add to the wealth of the rich."

Yuen Sze being made governor of his town by the Master, he gave him nine hundred measures of grain, but Sze declined them.

The Master said, "Do not decline them. May you not give them away in the neighborhoods, hamlets, towns, and villages?"

"Let the superior man never fail reverentially to order his own conduct, and let him be respectful to others and observant of propriety: then all within the four seas will be his brothers.* What has the superior man to do with being distressed because he has no brothers?"

Kih Tsze-shing said, "In a superior man it is only the substantial qualities which are wanted; why should we seek for ornamental accomplishments?"

Tsze-kung said, "Alas! Your words, sir, show you to be a superior man, but four horses cannot overtake the tongue.

"Ornament is as substance; substance is as ornament. The hide of a tiger or leopard stript of its hair, is like the hide of a dog or goat stript of its hair."

The Master said, "The superior man is affable, but

* The great Yu is represented as having made the four seas as four ditches, to which he drained the waters inundating "the middle kingdom." Plainly, the ancient conception of their own country was, as the great habitable tract; north, south, east, and west of which were four seas or oceans, between whose shores and their own borders the intervening space was not very great, and occupied by wild hordes of inferior races.

not adulatory; the mean man is adulatory, but not affable."

"The superior man is easy to serve, and difficult to please. If you try to please him in any way which is not accordant with right, he will not be pleased. But in his employment of men, he uses them according to their capacity. The mean man is difficult to serve, and easy to please. If you try to please him, though it be in a way which is not accordant with right, he may be pleased. But in his employment of men, he wishes them to be equal to everything."

"The superior man has a dignified ease without pride. The mean man has pride without a dignified ease."

“The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest, are near to virtue."

"The progress of the superior man is upwards; the progress of the mean man is downwards.”

The philosopher Ts'ang said, "The superior man, in his thoughts, does not go out of his place."

The Master said, "The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions."

"The way of the superior man is three-fold, but I am not equal to it. Virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear."

"He who does not anticipate attempts to deceive him, nor think beforehand of his not being believed, and yet apprehends these things readily when they occur-is he not a man of superior worth?"

"The superior man in everything considers righteousness to be essential. He performs it according to the rules of propriety. He brings it forth in humility. He