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The Master said, How dare I lay claim to holiness or love? A man of endless craving, who never tires of teaching, I might be called, but that is all.
21. 子曰：「三人行，必有我師焉：擇其善者而從之，其不善者而改之。」
The Master said, Walking three together I am sure of teachers. I pick out the good and follow it; I see the bad and shun it.
22. 子曰：「天生德於予，桓魋其如予何？」
The Master said, Heaven begat the mind in me; what can Huan T'ui do to me?
23. 子曰：「二三子以我為隱乎？吾無隱乎爾。吾無行而不與二三子者，是丘也。」
The Master said, My two-three boys, do ye think I hide things? I hide nothing from you. I am a man that keeps none of his doings from his two-three boys.
24. 子以四教：文，行，忠，信。
The Master taught four things: art, conduct, faithfulness and truth.
25. 子曰：「聖人，吾不得而見之矣，得見君子者，斯可矣。」子曰：「善人，吾不得而 見之矣，得見有恒者，斯可矣。亡而為有，虛而為盈，約而為泰，難乎有恒矣。」
The Master said, A holy man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a gentleman! A good man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a steadfast one! But when nothing poses as something, cloud as substance and want as riches, it is hard indeed to be steadfast!
26. 子釣而不綱，弋不射宿。
The Master angled, but he did not fish with a net; he shot, but not at birds sitting.
27. 子曰：「蓋有不知而作之者，我無是也。多聞，擇其善者而從之。多見而識之，知 之次 也。」
The Master said, There may be men that do things without knowing why. I do not. To hear much, pick out the good and follow it; to see much and think it over; this comes next to wisdom.
28. 互鄉難與言，童子見，門人惑。子曰：「與其進也，不與其退也，唯何甚？人潔己以 進，與其潔也，不保其往也。」
To talk to the Hu village was hard. When a lad was seen by the Master, the disciples doubted. The Master said, I allow his coming, not what he does later. Why be so harsh? If a man cleans himself to come in, I admit his cleanness, but do not warrant his past.
29. 子曰：「仁遠乎哉？我欲仁，斯仁至矣。」
The Master said, Is love so far a thing? I long for love, and lo! love is come.
30. 陳司敗問昭公知禮乎，孔子曰：「知禮。」孔子退，揖巫馬期而進之曰：「吾聞君子 不黨，君子亦黨乎？君取於吳，為同姓，謂之吳孟子。君而知禮，孰不知禮？」巫馬期以告。子曰：「丘也幸，苟有過，人必知之。」
A judge of Ch'en asked whether Duke Chao knew good form. Confucius answered, He knew good form. After Confucius had left, the judge beckoned Wu-ma Ch'i to him, and said, I had heard that gentlemen are of no party, but do they, too, take sides? This lord married a Wu, whose name was the same as his, and called her Miss Tzu of Wu: if he knew good form, who does not know good form? When Wu-ma Ch'i told the Master this he said, How lucky I am! If I go wrong, men are sure to know it!
31. 子與人歌而善，必使反之，而後和之。
When anyone sang to the Master, and sang well, he made him sing it again and joined in.
32. 子曰：「文，莫吾猶人也。躬行君子，則吾未之有得。」
The Master said, I have no more reading than others; to live as a gentleman is not yet mine.
33. 子曰：「若聖與仁，則吾豈敢？抑為之不厭，誨人不倦，則可謂云爾已矣。」公西華 曰：「正唯弟子不能學也。」
The Master said, How dare I lay claim to holiness or love? A man of endless craving, who never tires of teaching, I might be called, but that is all. That is just what we disciples cannot learn, said Kung-hsi Hua.
34. 子疾病，子路請禱。子曰：「有諸？」子路對曰：「有之。誄曰：『禱爾于上下神祗 』」子曰：「丘之禱久矣。」
When the Master was very ill, Tzu-lu asked leave to pray. Is it done? said the Master. It is, answered Tzu-lu. The Memorials say, Pray to the spirits above and to the Earth below. The Master said, Long-lasting has my prayer been.
35. 子曰：「奢則不孫，儉則固。與其不孫也，寧固。」
The Master said, Waste makes men unruly, thrift makes them mean; but they are better mean than unruly.
36. 子曰：「君子坦蕩蕩，小人長戚戚。」
The Master said, A gentleman is calm and spacious; the small man is always fretting.
37. 子溫而厲，威而不猛，恭而安。
The Master's manner was warm yet dignified. He was stern, but not fierce; humble, yet easy.
The Master said, Eating coarse rice and drinking water, with bent arm for pillow, we may be merry; but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.
1. 子曰：「述而不作，信而好古，竊比於我老彭。」
The Master said, A teller and not a maker, one that trusts and loves the past; I might liken myself to our old P'eng.
2. 子曰：「默而識之，學而不厭，誨人不倦，何有於我哉？」
The Master said, To think things over in silence, to learn and be always hungry, to teach and never weary; is any of these mine?
3. 子曰：「德之不修，學之不講，聞義不能徒，不善不能改，是吾憂也。」
The Master said, Not making the most of my mind, want of thoroughness in learning, failure to do the right when told it, lack of strength to overcome faults; these are my sorrows.
4. 子之燕居，申申如也，夭夭如也。」
In his free moments the Master was easy and cheerful.
5. 子曰：「甚矣吾衰也！久矣吾不復夢見周公！」
The Master said, How deep is my decay! It is long since I saw the Duke of Chou in a dream.
6. 子曰：「志於道，據於德，依於仁，游於藝。」
The Master said, Keep thy will on the Way, lean on mind, rest in love, move in art.
7. 子曰：「自行束修以上，吾未嘗無誨焉。」
The Master said, From the man that paid in dried meat upwards, I have withheld teaching from no one.
8. 子曰：「不憤不啟，不悱不發。舉一隅不以三隅反，則不復也。」
The Master said, Only to those fumbling do I open, only for those stammering do I find the word. If I lift one corner and the other three are left unturned, I say no more.
9. 子食於有喪者之側，未嘗飽也。子於是日哭，則不歌。
When eating beside a mourner the Master never ate his fill. On days when he had been wailing, he did not sing.
10. 子謂顏淵曰：「用之則行，舍之則藏，惟我與爾有是夫。」子路曰：「子行三軍，則 誰與？」子曰：「暴虎馮河，死而不悔者，吾不與也。必也臨事而懼，好謀而成者也。」
The Master said to Yen Yüan, To go forward when in office and lie quiet when not; only I and thou can do that. Tzu-lu said, If ye had to lead three armies, Sir, whom would ye have with you? No man, said the Master, that would face a tiger bare-fisted, or plunge into a river and die without a qualm; but one, indeed, who, fearing what may come, lays his plans well and carries them through.
11. 子曰：「富而可求也，雖執鞭之士，吾亦為之。如不可求，從吾所好。」
The Master said, If shouldering a whip were a sure road to riches I should turn carter; but since there is no sure road, I tread the path I love.
12. 子之所慎：齊，戰，疾。
The Master gave heed to abstinence, war and sickness.
13. 子在齊聞韶，三月不知肉味，曰：「不圖為樂之至於斯也。」
When he was in Ch'i, for three months after hearing the Shao played, the Master knew not the taste of flesh. I did not suppose, he said, that music could reach such heights.
14. 冉有曰：「夫子為衛君乎？」子貢曰：「諾，吾將問之。」入曰：「伯夷、叔齊何人 也？」曰：「古之賢人也。」曰：「怨乎？」曰：「求仁而得仁，又何怨？」出曰：「夫子不為也。」
Jan Yu said, Is the Master for the lord of Wei? I shall ask him, said Tzu-kung. He went in, and said, What kind of men were Po-yi and Shu-ch'i? Worthy men of yore, said the Master. Did they rue the past? They sought love and found it; what had they to rue? Tzu-kung went out, and said, The Master is not for him.
15. 子曰：「飯疏食，飲水，曲肱而枕之，樂亦在其中矣。不義而富且貴，於我如浮雲。 」
The Master said, Eating coarse rice and drinking water, with bent arm for pillow, we may be merry; but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.
16. 子曰：「加我數年，五十以學易，可以無大過矣。」
The Master said, Given a few more years, making fifty for learning the Yi, I might be freed from gross faults.
17. 子所雅言，詩、書、執禮，皆雅言也。
The Master liked to talk of poetry, history, and the upkeep of courtesy. Of all these he liked to talk.
18. 葉公問孔子於子路，子路不對。子曰：「女奚不曰，其為人也，發憤忘食，樂以忘 憂，不知老之將至云爾。」
The Duke of She asked Tzu-lu about Confucius. Tzu-lu did not answer. The Master said, Why didst thou not say, He is a man that forgets to eat in his eagerness, whose sorrows are forgotten in gladness, who knows not that age draws near?
19. 子曰：「我非生而知之者，好古，敏以求之者也。」
The Master said, I was not born to wisdom: I loved the past, and sought it earnestly there.
20. 子不語怪力亂神。
The Master never talked of goblins, strength, disorder, or spirits.
