The Analects of Confucius

• Confucius was likely a private person who trained the sons of gentlemen in the virtues appropriate to a member of the ruling class. Though, it is clear that he longed for a more public position to disseminate his teachings
• Chün-tzu, or gentleman, are recognized by freeness from violence or brusqueness, open and sincere expression, and speech free from vulgarity (careful and considerate speech)
• Those who behave as a chün-tzu should find themselves welcomed everywhere. The alliances of ‘small people’ are directed against others, hostile and destructive in intent; but those of the gentlemen exist only for mutual satisfaction
• Chün-tzu have no politics, but side with the Right wherever they find it
• Softness, the unwillingness to inflict pain or take life, carried to its logical conclusion involves extinction, as does hardness, the indifference to the infliction of death and suffering
• The downfall of liberalism (a rational meeting in the middle) has been due to the failure to associate it with any strong emotion. Extremes, not compromises, evoke the strongest emotional impulses
• “If the distant do not submit, cultivate the power of wên (culture, the arts of peace) to bring them to you.” XVI
• When one sees people who are better than oneself, one should instead turn their attention towards equalling them
• If one learns but does not think, one is lost; if one thinks but does not learn, one is in danger
• Keep order among them by chastisement and they will flee from you; keep order among them by ritual and they will come to you of their own accord.
• Clever talk and a pretentious manner are seldom found in the Good
• Be cautious in giving promises and punctual in keeping them
• A gentleman who doesn’t continue eating after he is full, does not demand comfort in his home, is diligent in business and cautious in speech, and associates with the Good thereby correcting his own faults
• Do not grieve that other people do not recognize your merits, the real tragedy would be to not recognize theirs
• He who by reanimating the Old can gain knowledge of the New is fit to be a teacher
• A gentleman can see a question from all sides without bias, the small man is biased and can see a question from only one side
• To recognize what you know, and what you don’t know, is knowledge
• Do not mind failing to get recognition, be too busy doing the things that entitle one to recognition
• Rotten wood cannot be carved
• The Middle Way: to exceed is as bad as to fall short, moderation is key
• Lavishness leads easily to presumption, as does frugality to meanness. But meanness is a far less serious fault than presumption
  • Does frugality lead to meanness?
• Be affable yet firm, commanding but not too harsh, polite but easy
• If the Way prevails in your land, count it a disgrace to be needy and obscure; when the Way does not, then count it a disgrace to be rich and honoured
• The gentleman brings attention to the good qualities in others, not the bad
• When asked how to avoid burglary, build up qualities that cannot be stolen, rather than ostentatious material goods that can be.
• In vain have I looked for one whose desire to build up his moral power was as strong as sexual desire
  • This will generally be the case. Individual selection has a first order effect on our behaviour, group selection (which forms morals) has a second order effect (we abide to social rules because we must, otherwise our genes would perish)
• Demand much for oneself and little from others to banish discontent
• The demands that a gentleman makes are upon himself; those that a small man makes are upon others
• A gentleman is proud but not quarrelsome, and aligns himself with individuals but not parties
• 3 profitable pleasures: pleasure from ritual and music, pleasure from discussing the good points in the conduct of others, and pleasure from having many wise friends
• 3 harmful pleasures: pleasure from profligate enjoyments, pleasure from idle gadding about, and pleasure from comfort and ease
• 3 mistakes that can be made in the context of speech: forwardness (speaking before being called to do so), secretiveness (not speaking when called to do so), and blindness (speaking before noting others’ facial expression)
• Love of uprightness without love of learning degenerates into harshness
• Love of courage without love of learning degenerates into turbulence
• Even minor walks of knowledge (specialized knowledge) have an importance of their own, but if pursued too far they tend to prove a hindrance; for which reason a gentleman does not cultivate them
  • This same idea prevailed until the 19th century in England, where specialized knowledge was deemed incompatible with true gentility
• One who studies widely and with purpose, who questions earnestly, and thinks for himself about what he has heard
• When the small man goes wrong, it is on the side of over-elaboration
• A gentleman seen from afar looks severe, when approached is found to be mild, and when heard speaking is found to be incisive