Confucius said, “There are cases where sprouts appear but no blossoms; there are cases where blossoms appear but no fruit!”
When speaking of Yan Hui, Confucius said, “What a pity! I saw him constantly advancing – I never saw him stop.”
Confucius said, “Suppose you are piling up earth to make a mountain. If you stop just one basket short of completion – that stopping is my own doing. Suppose you are leveling ground, and even if you have only dumped one basket – you are advancing, because I am moving forward.”
Confucius said, “I have never seen anyone who loves virtue as much as they love beauty.”
Confucius stood by a river and said, “What passes away is like this – never ceasing day or night!”
Yan Hui sighed deeply and said, “The more I look up to the Master’s Way, the higher it appears; the more I delve into it, the firmer it becomes. Just when I think I see it ahead of me, suddenly it seems to be behind. My teacher guides people skillfully and step by step:…
A person from Daxiang said, “How great is Confucius! He is immensely learned, yet he has not become famous for any single skill.” When Confucius heard this, he said to his disciples, “What should I specialize in? Should I take up charioteering or archery? I’ll go with charioteering.”