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4.15 The Master said, “Shen! My Way (Dao) has one (thread) that runs right through it.”
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4.14 The Master said, “He does not mind not being in office; all he minds about is whether he has qualities that entitle him to office. He does not mind failing to get recognition; he is too busy doing the things that entitle him to recognition.”
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4.13 The Master said, “If it is really possible to govern countries by ritual and yielding, there is no more to be said. But if it is not really possible, of what use is ritual?”
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4.11 The Master (Confucius) said, “Where gentlemen set their hearts upon virtue, the commoners set theirs upon the soil. Where gentlemen think only of punishments, the commoners think only of exemptions.”
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4.10 The Master said, “A gentleman in his dealings with the world has neither enmities nor affections; but wherever he sees righteousness he ranges himself beside it.”
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4.9 The Master said, “A scholar whose heart is set upon Dao, but who is ashamed of wearing shabby clothes and eating coarse food, is not worth calling into counsel.”
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4.8 The Master said, “In the morning, hear the Dao (the Way); in the evening, die content!”
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4.7 The Master said, “People’s faults vary according to their kind. By observing their faults, one comes to understand their humanity.”