Weisheng Mu said to Confucius, “Qiu, why are you so restless and constantly traveling from place to place? Could it be that you’re trying to win favor through glib talk?”Confucius replied, “I dare not resort to glibness; I simply detest obstinacy.”
Zilu spent the night at the Stone Gate. At dawn, the gatekeeper asked him, “Where do you come from?”Zilu replied, “From Master Kong’s.”The gatekeeper said, “Ah – is he not the one who knows it’s impossible, yet still does it?”
Zilu asked how to serve a ruler. The Master said, “Do not deceive him, but dare to remonstrate with him openly – even if it offends him.”
The Master said, “The noble person (Confucian gentleman) is easy to work with but hard to please. If you try to please him in ways that violate the Way (Dao), he will not be pleased; yet when he employs others, he uses them according to their abilities. The petty person is hard to work…
The Master said, “If the noble person studies widely in cultural texts and disciplines himself with ritual propriety, he will not stray from the right path!”
Confucius was in danger during the incident at Kuang, and Yan Hui lagged behind. When Yan Hui finally caught up, Confucius said, “I thought you had died.” Yan Hui replied, “As long as you, Master, are still alive, how could I dare to die?”
The Master said, “Hui is nearly there in moral perfection – yet he is often destitute. Ci does not accept his fate; instead, he engages in trade and commerce, and his market predictions are frequently correct.”
Confucius said, “There are those with whom one can study together, but not proceed together on the Way; those with whom one can proceed on the Way, but not stand firm with; and those with whom one can stand firm, but not exercise discretion.”