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The Master said, Without good form attentions grow into fussiness, heed becomes fearfulness, daring becomes unruliness, frankness becomes rudeness. When gentlemen are true to kinsfolk, love will thrive among the people; if they do not forsake old friends, the people will not steal.
1. 子曰：「泰伯其可謂至德也已矣。三以天下讓，民無得而稱焉。」
The Master said, T'ai-po may be said to have carried nobility furthest. Thrice he refused all below heaven. Men were at a loss how to praise him.
2. 子曰：「恭而無禮則勞，慎而無禮則葸，勇而無禮則亂，直而無禮則絞。君子篤於親 ，則民興於仁。故舊不遺，則民不偷。」
The Master said, Without good form attentions grow into fussiness, heed becomes fearfulness, daring becomes unruliness, frankness becomes rudeness. When gentlemen are true to kinsfolk, love will thrive among the people; if they do not forsake old friends, the people will not steal.
3. 曾子有疾，召門弟子曰：「啟予足！啟予手！詩云：『戰戰兢兢，如臨深淵，如履薄 冰。』而今而後，吾知免夫！小子！」
When Tseng-tzu lay sick he called his disciples and said, Uncover my feet, uncover my arms. The poem says, As if a deep gulf Were yawning below, As crossing thin ice, Take heed how ye go. My little children, I have known how to keep myself unhurt until now and hereafter.
4. 曾子有疾，孟敬子問之。曾子言曰：「鳥之將死，其鳴也哀；人之將死，其言也善。君 子所貴乎道者三：動容貌，斯遠暴慢矣；正顏色，斯近信矣；出辭氣，斯遠鄙倍矣。籩豆之事，則有司存。」
When Tseng-tzu was sick Meng Ching came to ask after him. Tseng-tzu said, When a bird is dying his notes are sad; when man is dying his words are good. Three branches of the Way are dear to a gentleman: To banish from his bearing violence and disdain; to sort his face to the truth, and to banish from his speech what is low or unseemly. The ritual of chalice and platter has servitors to see to it.
5. 曾子曰：「以能問於不能，以多問於寡，有若無，實若虛，犯而不校，昔者吾友，嘗從 事於斯矣。」
Tseng-tzu said, When we can, to ask those that cannot; when we are more, to ask those that are less; having, to seem wanting; real, to seem shadow; when gainsaid, never answering back; I had a friend once that could do thus.
6. 曾子曰：「可以託六尺之孤，可以寄百里之命，臨大節而不可奪也，君子人與，君子人 也。」
Tseng-tzu said, A man to whom an orphan, a few feet high, or the fate of an hundred towns, may be entrusted, and whom no crisis can corrupt, is he not a gentleman, a gentleman indeed?
7. 曾子曰：「士不可以不弘毅，任重而道遠。仁以為己任，不亦重乎，死而後已，不亦遠 乎。」
Tseng-tzu said, The knight had need be strong and bold; for his burden is heavy, the way is far. His burden is love, is it not a heavy one? No halt before death, is that not far?
8. 子曰：「興於詩，立於禮，成於樂。」
The Master said, Poetry rouses us, we stand upon courtesy, music is our crown.
9. 子曰：「民可使由之，不可使知之。」
The Master said, The people may be made to follow, we cannot make them understand.
10. 子曰：「好勇疾貧，亂也。人而不仁，疾之已甚，亂也。」
The Master said, Love of daring and hatred of poverty lead to crime; a man without love, if he is sorely harassed, turns to crime.
11. 子曰：「如有周公之才之美，使驕且吝，其餘不足觀也已。」
The Master said, All the comely gifts of the Duke of Chou, coupled with pride and meanness, would not be worth a glance.
12. 子曰：「三年學，不至於穀，不易得也。」
The Master said, A man to whom three years of learning have borne no fruit would be hard to find.
13. 子曰：「篤信好學，守死善道。危邦不人，亂邦不居，天下有道則見，無道則隱。邦 有道，貧且賤焉，恥也，邦無道，富且貴焉，恥也。」
The Master said, A man of simple faith, who loves learning, who guards and betters his way unto death, will not enter a tottering kingdom, nor stay in a lawless land. When all below heaven follows the Way, he is seen; when it loses the Way, he is unseen. While his land keeps the Way, he is ashamed to be poor and lowly; but when his land has lost the Way, wealth and honours shame him.
14. 子曰：「不在其位，不謀其政。」 The Master said, When out of place, discuss not policy.
15. 子曰：「師摯之始，關睢之亂，洋洋乎盈耳哉。」
The Master said, In the first days of the music-master Chih how the hubbub of the Kuan-chü rose sea beyond sea! How it filled the ear!
16. 子曰：「狂而不直，侗而不愿，悾悾而不信，吾不知之矣。」
The Master said, Of men that are zealous, but not straight; dull, but not simple; helpless, but not truthful, I will know nothing.
17. 子曰：「學如不及，猶恐失之。」
The Master said, Learn as though the time were short, like one that fears to lose.
18. 子曰：「巍巍乎，舜禹之有天下也，而不與焉。」
The Master said, How wonderful were Shun and Yü! To have all below heaven was nothing to them!
19. 子曰：「大哉堯之為君也，巍巍乎，唯天為大，唯堯則之，蕩蕩乎，民無能名焉。巍 巍乎，其有成功也，煥乎，其有文章。」
The Master said, How great a lord was Yao! Wonderful! Heaven alone is great; Yao alone was patterned on it. Vast, boundless! Men's words failed them. The wonder of the work done by him! The flame of his art and precepts!
20. 舜有臣五人，而天下治。武王曰：「予有亂臣十人。」孔子曰：「才難，不其然乎， 唐虞之際，於斯為盛，有婦人焉，九人而已。三分天下有其二，以服事殷，周之德，其可謂至德也已矣。」
Shun had five ministers, and there was order below heaven. King Wu said, I have ten uncommon ministers. Confucius said, 'The dearth of talent,' is not that the truth? When Yü followed T'ang the times were rich in talent; yet there were but nine men in all, and one woman. In greatness of soul we may say that Chou was highest: he had two-thirds of all below heaven and bent it to the service of Yin.
21. 子曰：「禹吾無間然矣，菲飲食，而致孝乎鬼神，惡衣服，而致美乎黻冕，卑宮室， 而盡力乎溝洫，禹吾無間然矣。」
The Master said, I see no flaw in Yü. He ate and drank little, yet he was lavish in piety to the ghosts and spirits. His clothes were bad, but in his cap and gown he was fair indeed. His palace buildings were poor, yet he gave his whole strength to dykes and ditches. No kind of flaw can I see in Yü.
