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Zi Zhang asked how to cultivate virtue and discern confusion. The Master said, “Make loyalty and trustworthiness your foundation, and always align yourself with righteousness—this is how you elevate virtue. As for confusion: when you love someone, you wish him to live; when you hate him, you wish him to die. Now wanting him…
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Ji Zicheng said, “A noble person needs only inner substance—why bother with outward refinement?”Zigong replied, “What a pity, sir, that you speak this way of the noble person! Once words are spoken, even a team of four horses cannot overtake them. Refinement is as essential as substance, and substance is as essential as refinement.…
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Sima Niu lamented, “Everyone has brothers, but I alone have none.”Zixia consoled him, saying, “I once heard it said: ‘Life and death are determined by fate; wealth and honor depend on Heaven.’ If a noble person is reverent and never careless in conduct, and treats others with respect and propriety, then all within the…
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Sima Niu asked about the noble person (junzi). The Master said, “The noble person has no anxiety and no fear.”He asked further, “Is being free from anxiety and fear alone enough to be called a noble person?”The Master replied, “When one examines oneself inwardly and finds no guilt, what is there to worry or…
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When the pheasants sensed a change in human expression, they immediately took flight; after circling in the air, they settled again. Confucius, observing this, remarked, “Ah, the female pheasant on the mountain ridge – how timely she is! How perfectly she understands the right moment!” Hearing this, Zilu bowed respectfully toward the bird. It…
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Confucius said, “Only when the year turns cold do we know that the pine and cypress are the last to shed their leaves.”
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Zigong said, “Suppose there is a fine jade here – should we keep it stored away in a case, or should we look for a good buyer and sell it?” Confucius replied, “Sell it! Sell it! I am waiting for the right buyer.”
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Lao (a disciple of Confucius) said, “The Master once remarked, ‘Because I was never given an official post, I acquired many practical skills.’”