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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.”
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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?”
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The Master said, “People of the south have a saying: ‘A person without constancy cannot even become a shaman or physician.’ How excellent this saying is!”He then quoted the Book of Changes: “If one does not maintain his virtue consistently, he will surely bring shame upon himself.”The Master added, “Such a person need not…
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The Master said:“Yan Hui was such a person –he chose the Doctrine of the Mean.Whenever he grasped even a single point of goodness,he held it close to his heart with unwavering devotion and never let it go.”
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The Master said:“Everyone says, ‘I am wise!’Yet when driven into nets, snares, and traps,none of them knows how to avoid them.Everyone says, ‘I am wise!’Yet even if they choose the Doctrine of the Mean,they cannot hold to it for even a month.”