# The Sayings of Confucius; a New Translation of the Greater Part of the Confucian Analects/Confucius' Estimate of Others

The Master said: I may talk all day to Hui without his putting in a word of criticism or dissent—just as though he were deficient in understanding. But after he has left me, I find, on examining his private conduct, that he knows for all that how to exemplify my teaching. No! Hui is not deficient in understanding.
Tzǔ Kung asked, saying: What, Sir, is your opinion of me?—I would liken you, Tz'ǔ, replied the Master,—to a vessel limited in its function.—What sort of vessel? asked Tzǔ Kung.—A richly ornamented sacrificial vessel, was the reply.
Some one remarked that Yung had goodness of heart but no cleverness of speech.—The Master said: Of what use is cleverness of speech? Those ​who are always ready to assail others with their tongue are sure to make themselves disliked. As to Yung's goodness of heart I have no certain knowledge; but how would he benefit by having cleverness of speech?
The Master said: My teaching makes no headway. How and if I were to board a raft and float away over the sea? My friend Yu would come with me, I feel sure.—Tzǔ Lu, hearing this, was glad. The Master continued: Yu surpasses me in his love of daring, but he lacks discretion and judgment.
Mêng Wu Po asked whether Tzǔ Lu had true moral virtue. The Master replied: I do not know.—Asked a second time, the Master said Yu might be trusted to organise the military levies of a large and powerful State, but whether he is possessed of true virtue I cannot say.—And what is your opinion with regard to Ch'iu?—The Master said: Ch'iu might be entrusted with the government of a district numbering a thousand households or a hundred war-chariots, but whether he has true virtue I cannot say.—And Ch'ih, what of him?—The Master said: Ch'ih might be employed to stand in his official dress at a royal levée and converse with the visitors and guests; whether he has true virtue I cannot say.
​The Master addressing Tzǔ Kung said: Which of the two is the better man, you or Hui?—Tzǔ Kung replied: How can I venture to compare myself with Hui? Hui hears one point and promptly masters the whole. I hear one point and am only able to feel my way to a second.—The Master agreed: No, you are not equal to Hui; neither of us two is equal to Hui.
Tsai Yü used to sleep during the day. The Master said: Rotten wood cannot be carved, walls made of dirt and mud cannot be plastered:—what is the good of reprimanding Yü? At first, he continued, my way of dealing with others was to listen to their words and to take their actions upon trust. Now, my way is to listen to what they say and then to watch what they do. This change in me is owing to Yü.
The Master said: I have never yet met a really strong character.—Some one suggested Shên Ch'êng.—The Master said: Ch'êng is a slave to his passions. How can he possess strength of character?
Tzǔ Kung said: I am anxious to avoid doing ​to others that which I would not have them do to me. The Master said: Tz'ǔ, you have not got as far as that.
The Master said of Tzǔ Ch'an that he had four of the qualities of the princely man:—in his personal demeanour he was grave, in serving those above him he was attentive, in his care for the people he was kind, in his ordering of the people he was just.
The Master said: Yen P'ing knows the art of associating with his friends: however old the acquaintance may be, he always treats them with the same respect.
Ning Wu Tzǔ's behaviour was wise so long as his country was well governed: when revolution came, his behaviour was stupid. His wisdom may be equalled by others, but his stupidity is beyond all imitation.
Po I and Shu Ch'i never remembered old ​injuries, and therefore their enemies were few.
Who will say that Wei-shêng Kao was an upright man? When asked by somebody for some vinegar, he went and begged it of a neighbour, and gave this to the man who had asked him.
For the space of three months together Hui would not deviate in spirit from the path of perfect virtue. My other disciples may attain this height once in a day or in a month, but that is all.
Po Niu lying sick unto death, the Master went to visit him. He clasped his hand through the window and said: He is dying. Such is fate. Alas! that such a man should have such an illness, that such a man should have such an illness!
​The Master said: Hui was indeed a philosopher! Other men living as he did, in a miserable alley, with a single dish of food and a single bowl of drink, could not have endured the distress. But Hui was invariably cheerful. He was a philosopher indeed!
Jan Ch'iu said: It is not that I have no joy in my Master's teaching, it is my strength that fails me.—The Master replied: Those whose strength them fall fainting by the way. What you do is to set up bounds which you will not attempt to pass.
The Master said: Mêng Chih-fan is no braggart. Once after a defeat, when he was bringing up the rear, he whipped his horse as he was about to enter the city gate, and cried: It is not courage that makes me last, it is my horse that won't gallop fast enough.
The Master addressing Yen Yüan said: It is only you and I who would be content to accept ​employment when it was offered to us, to retire into obscurity when we were dismissed.—Tzǔ Lu then said: If you, Sir, had the conduct of three legions, whom would you associate with yourself in the command?—I would not, replied the Master, choose a man who would attack a tiger unarmed, cross a river without a boat, or sacrifice his life without a moment's regret. Rather should it be one who would not embark on an enterprise without anxiety, and who was accustomed to lay his plans well before putting them into execution.
The Master said: T'ai Po may be said to have reached the summit of virtue. Having resolutely renounced the Imperial throne, he put it out of the people's power to glorify his act of renunciation!
​In the Emperor Yü I find no loophole for censure. His own food and drink were plain, but his offerings to the ancestral spirits showed extreme piety. His own garments were poor, but his robes and cap of state were extremely fine. His own dwelling was humble, but he spent all his strength on the construction of public canals and water-courses. I find no loophole for censure in Yü.
After the word had gone forth, Hui was never backward in his deeds.
The Master speaking of Yen Yüan said: Ah, what a loss! I used to see him ever progressing and never coming to a standstill.
The Master said: Yu, I fancy, is a man who would stand up, dressed in shabby garments quilted with hemp, among people attired in furs of fox and badger, and not be ashamed.
"Hating none and courting none, how can he be other than good?"As Tzǔ Lu kept constantly humming over this line, the Master said: This rule of conduct is not enough by itself to constitute goodness.
​The Master said: None of those who accompanied me on the journey to the states of Ch'ên and Ts'ai come to learn from me now. Distinguished for their virtuous conduct were Yen Yüan, Min Tzǔ-ch'ien, Jan Po-niu and Chung Kung; for their skill in speaking, Tsai Wo and Tzǔ Kung; for their administrative powers, Jan Yu and Chi Lu; for their literary attainments, Tzǔ Yu and Tzǔ Hsia.
Hui does not help me—he takes such delight in everything I say.
What noble piety is that of Min Tzu-ch'ien! Other men speak of him in exactly the same terms as his own parents and his own brethren.
When Yen Yüan died, the Master wept with ​passionate grief, so that those who were with him said: Master, your sorrow is too passionate.—Is it too passionate? he replied. Whose death should be a cause for violent grief, if not this man's?
On one occasion there were standing in attendance on the Master Min Tzǔ, looking gentle and mild; Tzǔ Lu, looking upright and soldierly; Jan Yu and Tzǔ Kung, looking frank and affable. The Master was pleased. " A man like Yu," he remarked, "will not come by a natural death."
The Master said: Why is Yu playing his martial music at my door?—The disciples began to lose their respect for Tzǔ Lu, whereupon the Master said: Yu has ascended the steps of the temple, though he has not yet reached the inner sanctuary.
Tzǔ Kung asked which was the man of greater worth, Shih or Shang. The Master replied: Shih exceeds and Shang falls short.—Then Shih is the better of the two?—The Master said: To exceed is as bad as to fall short.
​The head of the Chi clan was already richer than Chou Kung, yet Ch'iu kept levying taxes for him and adding to his wealth.—He is no disciple of mine, said the Master. My children, you may beat the drum and attack him.
The Master said: Hui reaches the verge of perfection, yet he is often in great want. Tz'ǔ does not resign himself to the will of Heaven, yet his worldly goods continue to increase. His judgments, however, frequently hit the mark.
Tzǔ Lu asked if he should at once put the precepts which he heard into practice.—The Master said: There are your father and elder brothers to consult first; why should you be so impatient to act on what you hear?—Jan Yu asked the same question, and the Master said: Yes, act at once according to the instruction that is given to you.—Kung-hsi Hua then said: When Yu asked if he should put the precepts which he heard into practice, you replied, Sir, that he had his father and elder brothers to consult first. When Ch'iu asked the same question, you said: ​"Act at once according to the instruction that is given to you." Now I am puzzled, and beg for an explanation.—The Master replied: Ch'iu is apt to hang back, therefore I press him on. Yu has eagerness enough for two, therefore I hold him back.
Chi Tzǔ-jan asked if Chung Yu and Jan Ch'iu could be termed great ministers. The Master said: I thought you had something extraordinary to ask about, and now it turns out to be a question about Yu and Ch'iu. What men call a great minister is one who serves his prince according to the principles of truth and virtue, and when that is impossible, resigns. Yu and Ch'iu, however, can only be termed ordinary officials.—Which is as much as to say that they will always obediently follow their master's will?—The Master replied: They would not follow him so far as to commit patricide or regicide.
The Master said: Yu is the man to settle a long litigation in a few words.
Tzǔ Kung was fond of weighing other men's merits and defects. The Master said: Surely Tz'ǔ must be a very great sage! Personally, I have no time for this.
* ↑ It is said elsewhere in the Analects (see p. 94) that "the higher type of man is unlike a vessel designed for some special use," which means that his moral capacity is not narrow and limited. Tzǔ Kung, then, it seems, had not fully grasped the higher principles of morality, was wanting in breadth of mind and the larger outlook on life. His aptitudes, however, were excellent so far as they went, and the Master compliments him here on his proficiency in things relating to religious ceremonial.
* ↑ Confucius probably wished to impress upon his questioner that true moral virtue (jên) was deeply implanted in the soul, and not to be gauged offhand from the presence or absence of certain superficial signs.
* ↑ It is passing strange that the clumsy "I grant you" for wu yü ju (I and you) should have found favour with translators. Wade even goes one better, by translating: "I award you this praise, Hui does not equal you"!
* ↑ Prime Minister of the Chêng State in the sixth century B.C. When he had ruled for three years, so great was the change effected that "doors were not locked at night, and lost articles were not picked up on the highway." Confucius wept when he heard of his death.
* ↑ Minister in the neighbouring state of Ch'i.
* ↑ A minister of the Wei State in the seventh century B.C. In the revolution referred to the prince was driven from his throne, but afterwards reinstated through the "stupidity," that is to say, the unwavering loyalty and devotion of Ning.
* ↑ These were brothers, celebrated for their protest against the overthrow of the Yin dynasty. Rather than live under the rule of the new sovereign, the great and virtuous Wu Wang, they wandered away into the mountains to perish of cold and hunger. This fidelity to the cause of Chou Hsin, one of the bloodiest and most infamous tyrants in history, seems a shade more quixotic than the conduct of those who espoused for so long the fallen fortunes of the house of Stuart.
* ↑ This was a young man who, if legend may be trusted, died more heroically than he lived. He agreed to meet a girl under a bridge, but, woman-like, she failed to keep her appointment. Though the water was rising rapidly, her lover waited on, unwilling to quit his post, and finally clung to a pillar until he was drowned.
* ↑ This is the man whom Confucius, according to Wade (see p. 73), ranked below Tzǔ Kung!
* ↑ Po Niu is said to have been suffering from leprosy, and therefore he would not allow visitors to enter his room.
* ↑ Few will see anything harmful in this anecdote as told by Confucius. Yet it is actually made to figure in the general charge of insincerity and untruthfulness brought against him by Legge. "The action was gallant," he says, "but the apology for it was weak and unnecessary. And yet Confucius saw nothing in the whole but matter for praise." In the first place, Legge entirely ignores the possibility that Mêng Chih-fan was really speaking the truth. But even if it were otherwise, Confucius' only comment is that he was "no braggart." Surely it is an overstrained morality that could be offended by this.
* ↑ Compare Moltke's motto: "Erst wägen, dann wagen." Tzǔ Lu was noted for his reckless bravery. Evidently jealous of the praise bestowed on Yen Yüan, he makes a delightfully artless attempt to secure some recognition for himself, but only draws down a reproof. The Master's relations with this vain, impulsive, good-hearted disciple often remind one of those subsisting between Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith.
* ↑ T'ai Po was the direct heir to his father's throne, but knowing that the latter wished to be succeeded by his youngest son (the father of the future Wên Wang, the virtual founder of the Chou dynasty), he went into voluntary exile among the barbarous tribes of the south, but kept the motives of his conduct to himself, and thus obtained no credit for his self-sacrifice.
* ↑ The "Great Yü," who in the reign of the Emperor Yao laboured incessantly for eight years to control the disastrous inundations of the Yellow River, himself became Emperor after the death of Yao's successor Shun, and founded the Hsia dynasty (2205-1766 B.C.).
* ↑ A quotation from the Book of Poetry, a collection of some 300 ancient ballads said to have been selected and arranged by Confucius himself, and hence raised to the dignity of a "classic."
* ↑ This must have been said by Confucius after his return from exile, when many of his followers were dead or in other parts of the Empire. Ch'ên and Ts'ai are particularly mentioned because it was on the road between these two small states that he met with the most perilous adventure of his life, being surrounded by hostile troops and cut off from all supplies for the space of seven days (see p. 115). It is not quite clear whether the next sentence should not be taken as a note added by the compiler, giving the names of those who wore with the Master on this journey.
* ↑ By criticism or questioning. Cf. p. 71.
* ↑ On hsiao, occurring in another treatise, Mr. Ku Hung-ming has the following note: "The word in the text does not mean merely a filial son, but has the meaning of the Latin 'pius'—pious in its full sense, reverential to God, dutiful to parents, good, faithful and orderly in all the relations of life."
* ↑ "This prediction was verified. When Confucius returned to Lu from Wei, he left Tzǔ Lu and Tzǔ Kao engaged there in official service. Troubles arose. News came to Lu, B.C. 479, that a revolution was in progress in Wei, and when Confucius heard it, he said, 'Ch'ai will come here, but Yu will die.' So it turned out. When Tzǔ Kao saw that matters were desperate he made his escape, but Tzǔ Lu would not forsake the chief who had treated him well. He threw himself into the mêlée and was slain."—Legge, Life of Confucius.
* ↑ This was the disciple by whose agency Confucius was finally restored to Lu. But Confucius was the last man to let private considerations stand in the way when public interests were involved and a crying evil had to be redressed. "Beating the drum" has no reference, as Legge thinks, to "the practice of executing criminals in the market-place." It was simply the recognised signal in warfare for advancing to the attack, gongs being used to sound the retreat.
* ↑ A member of the ambitious family which was scheming to get the whole power of the dukedom into its own hands. The two disciples here mentioned had recently been enlisted in its service, and Chi Tzǔ-jan is anxious to find out how far they can be relied upon in case of need. Confucius sees through his nefarious designs.