The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [74]
27. ‘It may simply be said of me, that I strive to become such without satiety, and teach others without weariness.’
28. When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are things to be ashamed of.
29. When a country is ill governed, riches and honour are things to be ashamed of.
30. The commander of the forces of a large state may be carried off, but the will of even a common man cannot be taken from him, if he refuses to let it go.
31. The wise are free from perplexities, the virtuous from anxiety, and the bold from fear.
32. One asked the master about death. The master said, ‘While you do not know about life, how can you know about death?’
Chapter 4
1. The master said, ‘To govern oneself is the way to the good. Is therefore the way to the good found by a man himself or found by others for him?
2. ‘To perfect one’s positive qualities without weariness, and to overcome bad qualities, is the way to the good.’
3. Asked about the relationship between good and bad qualities, the master said, ‘It is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it.’
4. The master said, ‘They think that distinction consists in being heard throughout the land. But this is not distinction, it is notoriety.
5. ‘The person of distinction is solid and straightforward, and loves what is right.
6. ‘He examines people’s words, and looks at their countenances.’
7. Asked how to exalt virtue, correct evil and do away with delusions, the master said, ‘By making your first business to do what is to be done, and treating success as a secondary consideration, that is how to exalt virtue.
8. ‘By assailing your own bad qualities and not delaying to do so while you assail the bad qualities of others, that is how to correct evil.’
9. Asked about benevolence, the master said, ‘It is to love all humankind.’
10. Asked about knowledge, he said, ‘It is to know humankind.’
11. Asked about friendship, he said, ‘Faithfully admonish your friend, and skilfully lead him forward.’
12. Asked what his first step would be on taking office, the master said, ‘To rectify names.
13. ‘If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things, and nothing can be done with success.’
14. The master said, ‘Do not desire to have things done quickly; do not look at small advantages.
15. ‘Seeking to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly.
16. ‘Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.’
Chapter 5
1. The master said, ‘The superior man is easy to serve and difficult to please.
2. ‘If you try to please him in ways not accordant with right, he will not be pleased.
3. ‘In his employment of men he uses them according to their capacity.’
4. The master said, ‘The inferior man is difficult to serve, and easy to please.
5. ‘If you try to please him in ways not accordant with right, he may be pleased.
6. ‘But in his employment of men he wishes them to be equal to everything.
7. ‘The firm, the enduring, the simple, the modest: such people are close to virtue.
8. ‘Boasting, resentment, covetousness, ignorance: these are the marks of inferiority.’
9. The master said, ‘It is hard not to complain when one is poor, but it is easy not to be proud when one is rich.
10. ‘Who is the good man? He who, when tempted by gain, thinks of righteousness;
11. ‘When faced with danger, summons his courage;
12. ‘And who never forgets an old promise, however far back it extends.
13. ‘When times are good, it is because people learn with a view to their own improvement.
14. ‘When times are bad, it is because people learn to win the approbation of others.’
15. The master said, ‘The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.’
16. The master said, ‘The way of the superior man is threefold, but I am not equal to it:
17. ‘Virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear.’
18. The master said, ‘I will not be