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THE

DISCOURSES AND SAYINGS

OF

CONFUCIUS.

CHAPTER I.

1. Confucius remarked, "It is indeed a pleasure to acquire knowledge and, as you go on acquiring, to put into practice what you have acquired. A greater pleasure still it is when friends of congenial minds come from afar to seek you because of your attainments. But he is truly a wise and good man who feels no discomposure even when he is not noticed of men."

2. A disciple of Confucius remarked, "A man who is a good son and a good citizen will seldom be found to be a man disposed to quarrel with those in authority over him; and men who are not disposed to quarrel with those in authority will never be found to disturb the peace and order of the State.

"A wise man devotes his attention to what is essential in the foundation of life. When the founda

L

tion is laid, wisdom will come. Now, to be a good son and a good citizen-do not these form the foundation. of a moral life ?"

3. Confucius remarked, "With plausible speech and fine manners will seldom be found moral character."

4. A disciple of Confucius remarked, "I daily examine into my personal conduct on three points :First, whether in carrying out the duties entrusted to me by others, I have not failed in conscientiousness; Secondly, whether in intercourse with friends, I have not failed in sincerity and trustworthiness; Thirdly, whether I have not failed to practice what I profess in my teaching."

5. Confucius remarked, "When directing the affairs of a great nation, a man must be serious in attention to business and faithful and punctual in his engagements. He must study economy in the public expenditure, and love the welfare of the people. He must employ the people at the proper time of the year."1

6. Confucius remarked, "A young man, when at home, should be a good son; when out in the world, a good citizen. He should be circumspect and truthful. He should be in sympathy with all men, but intimate

'In ancient China the people were lightly taxed, but were liable to forced labour and conscription in times of war.

with men of moral character. If he has time and opportunity to spare, after the performance of those duties, he should then employ them in literary pursuits."

7. A disciple of Confucius remarked, "A man who can love worthiness in man as he loves beauty in woman; who in his duties to his parents is ready to do his utmost, and in the service of his prince is ready to give up his life; who in intercourse with friends is found trustworthy in what he says,-such a man, although men may say of him that he is an uneducated man, I must consider him to be really an educated man.".

8. Confucius remarked, "A wise man who is not serious will not inspire respect; what he learns will not remain permanent.

"Make conscientiousness and sincerity your first

principles.

"Have no friends who are not as yourself.

"When you have bad habits do not hesitate to change them."

9. A disciple of Confucius remarked, "By cultivating respect for the dead, and carrying the memory back to the distant past, the moral feeling of the people will waken and grow in depth."

* Cogitavi dies antiquos et annos æternos in mente habụi.-Psalm lxxvii, 6,

10. A man once asked a disciple of Confucius, saying, "How was it that whenever the Master came into a country he was always informed of the actual state and policy of its government? Did he seek for the information or was it given to him?"

"The Master," replied the disciple, "was gracious, simple, earnest, modest and courteous; therefore he could obtain what information he wanted. The Master's way of obtaining information-well, it was different from other people's ways."

11. Confucius remarked, "When a man's father is living the son should have regard to what his father would have him do; when the father is dead, to what his father has done. A son who for three years after his father's death does not in his own life change his father's principles, may be said to be a good son."

12. A disciple of Confucius remarked, "In the practice of art,' what is valuable is natural spontaneity.

• Dr. LEGGE says of the Chinese word, which we have here translated "art," that it is a word not easily rendered in another language. On the other hand, Mr. B. H. CHAMBERLAIN, in his book Things Japanese, remarks that the Japanese language [China and Japan have the same written language] has no genuine native word for "art."

The English word "art," if we mistake not, is used in various senses to express : 1st, a work of art; 2nd, the practice of art; 3rd, artificial as opposed to natural; 4th, the principle of art as opposed to the principle of nature; 5th, the strict principle of art. In this last sense of the use of the English word "art" lies, as Dr. LEGGE says of the Chinese word mentioned above, "the idea of what is proper" and fit, Tò æpéñov, in all relations of things,

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