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The Master said, “I once spent a whole day without eating and a whole night without sleeping, devoting myself entirely to thinking – but gained nothing. It is better to study than to ponder in vain.”
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The Master said, “If a person can recite all three hundred poems of the Classic of Poetry, yet when entrusted with government affairs cannot manage them effectively, and when sent as an envoy to foreign states cannot respond independently—what use is all that learning, no matter how extensive?”
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Zilu asked how to serve ghosts and spirits. The Master said, “If you have not yet learned how to serve people, how can you serve ghosts and spirits?” Zilu ventured to ask further, “May I ask about death?” The Master replied, “If you do not yet understand life, how can you understand death?”
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The Master said:“The Way is not distant from people.If one pursues the Way in a way that estranges it from human life, it cannot be called the true Way.”
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The Master said:“The world and the state may be governed with fairness;titles and emoluments may be renounced;even bare blades may be trodden upon –yet the Doctrine of the Mean is what cannot be practiced!”
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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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Mencius said: “Confucius never went to extremes.”
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7.26 The Master said, “A Divine Sage I cannot hope ever to meet; the most I can hope for is to meet a true gentleman.”