The Master said, “‘If excellent people managed the state for a hundred years, then certainly they could overcome cruelty and do away with executions’—how true this saying is!”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.
The Master said, They say that if good men were to govern the domain for a hundred years, they could wipe out violence and put an end to killing. How true those words!
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.
The Master said, “A gentleman helps others to realize their good qualities, rather than their bad. A petty person does the opposite.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.
The Master said, The gentleman brings out what is most admirable in people; he does not bring out what is bad in them. The petty man does the opposite.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.
The Master said, “A person who is fond of courage but who despises poverty will become rebellious. A person who is not Good, and who is excessively criticized for it, will also become rebellious.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.
The Master said, Where there is love of daring and hatred of poverty, disorder will result. And if people lack humaneness and their hatred is extreme, disorder will result.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.
The Master said, “No doubt there are those who try to innovate without acquiring knowledge, but this is a fault that I do not possess. I listen widely, and then pick out that which is excellent in order to follow it; I see many things, and then remember them. This constitutes a second-best sort of knowledge.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.
The Master said, There are those who do not have knowledge and yet make things. I’m not that way. I hear much, choose what is good and follow it, see much and keep it in mind. This is the next best thing to knowledge.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.
The Master said, “When walking with two other people, I will always find a teacher among them. I focus on those who are good and seek to emulate them, and focus on those who are bad in order to be reminded of what needs to be changed in myself.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.
The Master said, When I walk with two others, I’m bound to find my teacher there. I single out their good points and pursue them, note their bad points and make my corrections.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.
Zigong said, “If there were one able to broadly extend his benevolence to the common people and bring succor to the multitudes, what would you make of him? Could such a person be called Good?”
The Master said, “Why stop at Good? Such a person should surely be called a sage! Even someone like Yao or Shun would find such a task daunting. Desiring to take his stand, one who is Good helps others to take their stand; wanting to realize himself, he helps others to realize themselves. Being able to take what is near at hand as an analogy could perhaps be called the method of Goodness.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.
Zigong said, If someone could spread bounty abroad among the people and rescue the populace, how would that be? Could that be called humaneness?
The Master said, Why bring humaneness into the discussion? If you must have a label, call the man a sage. Even Yao and Shun had trouble doing that much.
The humane person wants standing, and so he helps others to gain standing. He wants achievement, and so he helps others to achieve. To know how to proceed on the analogy of what is close at hand—this can be called the humane approach.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.
