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The Master said, “In serving a ruler, attend to your duties with reverence first, and place your salary second.”
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The Master said, “The noble person cannot be fully known through small matters, yet can be entrusted with great responsibilities; the petty person cannot be entrusted with great responsibilities, yet can be understood through small matters.”
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The Master said, “The noble person seeks the Way, not sustenance. In farming, hunger may still occur; in studying, official emolument often follows. Thus, the noble person worries about the Way, not about poverty.”
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The Master said, “To have faults and not correct them – that is truly a fault.”
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The Master said, “Clever words corrupt virtue; lacking patience in small matters disrupts great plans.”
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The Master said, “The noble person worries that after his death, his name will not be commensurate with his virtue – that he will not be remembered worthily.”
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The Master said, “The noble person takes righteousness as his substance, practices it through ritual propriety, expresses it with humility, and completes it through trustworthiness. Truly a noble person!”