The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [73]
20. At fifteen, I aspired to learning.
21. At thirty, I established my stand.
22. At forty, I had no illusions.
23. At fifty, I knew my destiny.
24. At sixty, I recognised truth when it came.
25. At seventy, I could follow my heart’s wishes without wrongdoing.
Chapter 2
1. Will you know a man? Examine his motives, note his course, take heed whether he is at ease. How can a man hide?
2. Exploring the old and deducing the new makes a teacher.
3. The nobler mind encompasses all and is not partial. The lesser mind is partial and does not encompass all.
4. To learn without thinking is to labour in vain.
5. To think without learning is desolation.
6. When you have erred, be not afraid to correct yourself. Have no associates in study who are not as advanced as yourself.
7. What is knowledge? It is to acknowledge that what is known is known, and that what is not known is not known.
8. What is wealth? Listen carefully and weigh: for the rest, speak prudently.
9. Observe carefully and weigh: for the rest, act prudently.
10. Thus there can be neither accusation nor remorse: that is wealth.
11. Preside with dignity and there is respect, preside with compassion and there is loyalty.
12. Elevate the good and teach the incapable, and there is encouragement.
13. To know what is right and not to do it is to be without courage.
Chapter 3
1. The master said, ‘If a person is without benevolence, what use is any outward show to hide the fact?
2. ‘In archery, to pierce the target is not the measure, but rather to hit the centre. This has always been the way.
3. ‘Those not benevolent cannot long endure adversity. The benevolent are at ease with benevolence. The wise profit from benevolence.
4. ‘To hear in the morning that benevolence prevails is to be able to die without regret at night.
5. ‘The good set their hearts on benevolence, others set their hearts on possessions.
6. ‘The good set their hearts on law, the others set their hearts on privilege.
7. ‘The good act before speaking, and afterwards speak according to their actions.
8. ‘When we see a man of worth, we should think of equalling him.
9. ‘When we see a man of no worth, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
10. ‘In regard to the aged, give them rest; in regard to friends, give them sincerity; in regard to the young, treat them tenderly.’
11. The master said, ‘Admirable indeed is the virtue of a man who has a single bowl of rice, a single gourd of drink, and lives in a mean narrow street, but does not allow his joy to be affected.’
12. The master said, ‘With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow, I still have joy in the midst of these things.
13. ‘Riches and honours acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud.
14. ‘Those who know the truth are not equal to those who love it,
15. ‘And those who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.
16. ‘The man of virtue makes it his first business to overcome difficulty, and makes success a secondary consideration only.
17. ‘The wise find pleasure in water, the virtuous find pleasure in hills.
18. ‘The wise are active, the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful, the virtuous are long-lived.
19. ‘The man of virtue, seeking to be established, seeks to establish others;
20. ‘Wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks to enlarge others.’
21. The master said, ‘When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers.
22. ‘I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them.
23. ‘Having not and yet affecting to have, empty and yet affecting to be full, straitened and yet affecting to be at ease: it is difficult with such characteristics to have constancy.
24. ‘Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! virtue is at hand.’
25. The master said, ‘In letters I am perhaps equal to other men, but the character of the superior man, carrying out in his conduct what he professes, is what I have not yet attained to.’
26. The master said, ‘The