6.20The Master said, “To prefer it is better than only to know it. To delight in it is better than merely to prefer it.”
6.18 The Master said, “When natural substance prevails over ornamentation, you get the boorishness of the rustic. When ornamentation prevails over natural substance, you get the pedantry of the scribe. Only when ornament and substance are duly blended do you get the true gentleman.”
6.17The Master said, “Who expects to be able to go out of a house except by the door? How is it then that no one follows this Way of ours?
6.15 The Master said, “Meng Zhifan is no boaster. When his people were routed he was the last to flee; but when they neared the city-gate, he whipped up his horses, saying, ‘It was not courage that kept me behind. My horses were slow.’”
6.13 The Master said to Zixia,”You must practice the style of a noble scholar, not that of a petty scholar.”
6.11 The Master said, “Incomparable indeed was Hui! A handful of rice to eat, a gourdful of water to drink, living in a mean street – others would have found it unendurably depressing, but to Hui’s cheerfulness it made no difference at all. Incomparable indeed was Hui!”
6.10 When Ran Geng was ill, the Master went to enquire after him, and grasping his hand through the window said, “It is all over with him! Heaven has so ordained it — but that such a man should have such an illness! That such a man should have such an illness!”