"Confucius - Sayings of, Harvard Classicst" - читать интересную книгу автора (Confucius)

Tzu-kung went out, and said: “The Master is not on his side.”
The Master said: “Living on coarse rice and water, with bent arm for pillow, mirth may be ours;
but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.”
[15] The Master said: “Given a few more years, making fifty for the study of the Yi, 5 I might be
purged from gross sin.”
[16] The Master liked to talk of poetry, history, and the upkeep of courtesy. Of all these he was fond of
talking.
[17] The Duke of She asked Tzu-lu about Confucius.
Tzu-lu did not answer.
The Master said: “Why couldst thou not say: ‘He is a man so eager that he forgets to eat, whose
cares are lost in triumph, unmindful of approaching age’?”
[18] The Master said: “I was not born to understanding. I loved the past, and questioned it earnestly.”
[19] The Master never spake of ghosts or strength, crime or spirits.
[20] The Master said: “Walking three together I am sure of teachers. I pick out the good and follow it; I
see the bad and shun it.”
[21] The Master said: “Heaven planted worth in me; what harm can come of Huan Tґui?” 6
[22] The Master said: “My boys, do ye think that I hide things from you? I hide nothing. One who
keeps from his boys nought that he does, such is Chґiu.” 7
[23] The four things the Master taught were culture, conduct, faithfulness, and truth.
[24] The Master said: “A holy man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a gentleman! A good
man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a steadfast one! But when nothing poses as
something, cloud as substance, want as riches, steadfastness must be rare.”
[25] The Master angled, but did not fish with a net; he shot, but not at birds sitting.
[26] The Master said: “There may be men who act without understanding why. I do not. To listen
much, pick out the good and follow it; to see much and ponder it: this comes next to
understanding.”
[27] It was ill talking to the Hu villagers. A lad having been admitted, the disciples wondered.
The Master said: “I allow his coming, not what is to come. Why be so harsh? If a man cleanse
himself to gain admission, I admit his cleanness, but go not bail for his past.”
[28] The Master said: “Is love so far a thing? I yearn for love, and lo! love is come.”
[29] A judge of Chґen asked whether Duke of Chao 8 knew courtesy.
Confucius answered: “He knew courtesy.”
After Confucius had left, the judge beckoned Wu-ma Chґi 9 to his side, and said: “I had heard that
gentlemen are of no party, but are they too for party? The prince married a Wu, of the same name as
himself, and called her Miss Tzu of Wu. If the prince knew courtesy, who does not know courtesy?”
When Wu-ma Chґi told this to the Master, he said: “How lucky I am! If I make a slip, men are sure
to know it!”
[30] When any one sang to the Master, and sang well, he would make him repeat it and join in.
[31] The Master said: “I have no more culture than others: to live as a gentleman is not yet mine.”
[32] The Master said: “How dare I lay claim to holiness or love? A man of endless craving I might be
called, an unflagging teacher; but nothing more.”
“That is just what we disciples cannot learn,” said Kung-hsi Hua.
[33] The Master being very ill, Tzu-lu asked leave to pray.
The Master said: “Is it the custom?”
“It is,” answered Tzu-lu. “The Memorials say, ‘Pray to the spirits in heaven above and on earth
below.’”
The Master said: “Long lasting has my prayer been.”
[34] The Master said: “Waste begets self-will; thrift begets meanness: but better be mean than self
willed.”
[35] The Master said: “A gentleman is calm and spacious: the vulgar are always fretting.”