Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

62
CONFUCIUS
medical man.' Good !—' Whoever is intermittent in his practise
of virtue will live to be ashamed of it.' Without prognos-
tication," he added, " that will indeed be so."
" The nobler-minded man," he remarked, " will be agreeable
even when he disagrees ; the small-minded man will agree and
be disagreeable."
Tsz-kung was consulting him, and asked, " What say you of
"
a person who was liked by all in his village ?
" That will scarcely do," he answered.
"
"
What, then, if they all disliked him ?
" That, too," said he, " is scarcely enough. Better if he were
Hked by the good folk in the village, and disUked by the bad."
" The superior man," he once observed, " is easy to serve, but
difficult to please. Try to please him by the adoption of wrong
principles, and you will fail. Also, when such a one employs
others, he uses them according to their capacity. The inferior
man is, on the other hand, difficult to serve, but easy to please.
Try to please him by the adoption of wrong principles, and you
will succeed. And when he employs others he requires them
to be fully prepared for everything."
Again, " The superior man can be high without being
haughty. The inferior man can be haughty if not high."
" The firm, the unflinching, the plain and simple, the slow to
speak," said he once, " are approximating towards their duty
to their fellow-men."
Tsz-lu asked how he would characterize one who might fitly
be called an educated gentleman. The master replied, " He
who can properly be so-called will have in him a seriousness of
purpose, a habit of controlling himself, and an agreeableness of
manner : among his friends and associates the seriousness and
the self-control, and among his brethren the agreeableness of
manner."
" Let good and able men discipline the people for seven
years," said the Master, " and after that they may do to go to
war."
But, said he, " To lead an undisciplined people to war—that
I call throwing them away."