A high officer asked Tze-kung, “May we not say that the master is a sage because he can do so many things?” To which Tze-kung replied, “Heaven has indeed highly endowed him, and he is almost a sage; and he is very many-sided.”

On hearing this the master said, “Does the officer know me?  Being of lowly birth when I was young, I learnt many a trade, but there was nothing great in that.  The superior man may excel in one thing only, and not in many things.”

Wishing to go and live among the nine wild tribes of the East, one of his friends remonstrated with the master and said, “They are low.  How can you go and live among them?” To which he gave for answer, “Nothing that is low can survive where the virtuous and the good-mannered man is.”

After I returned from Wei to Lu I found the music had been reformed, and that each song was given its proper place.

The master said, “To serve ministers and nobles when abroad, fathers and elder brothers when at home, to avoid neglect in offerings of the dead, and to be no slave to wine:  to which of these have I attained?”

CONFUCIUS AT HOME AND AT COURT

In his own village Confucius looked homely and sincere, as if he had no word to say; but in the ancestral temple and in the court he was full of words, though careful in using them.

When waiting at court he talked with the lower officers frankly, but to the higher officers more blandly and precisely.  When the sovereign was present he used to be respectful but easy, solemn yet self-possessed.  When the sovereign bade him receive visitors his countenance changed, and his legs appeared to bend.  Bowing to those beside him, he straightened his robes in front and behind, hastening forward with his elbows extended like a bird’s wings.  When the guest had retired he used to report to the prince, saying, “The guest does not any more look back.”  When he entered the palace gate he seemed to stoop as though it were not high enough for him.  Ascending the dais, lifting up his robes with both hands, he held his breath as if he would cease breathing.  As he came down his face relaxed after the first step, and looked more at ease.  At the bottom of the steps he would hurry on, spreading out his elbows like wings, and on gaining his seat he would sit intent as previously.

He was never arrayed in deep purple or in puce-coloured garments.  Even at home he wore nothing of a red or reddish colour.  In hot weather he used to wear a single garment of fine texture, but always over an inner garment.  Over lambs’ fur he wore a garment of black, over fawns’ fur one of white, and over foxes’ fur one of yellow.  His sleeping-dress was half as long again as his body.  On the first day of the month he always went to court in court robes.  On fast days he wore pale-hued garments, changed his food, and made a change in his apartment.

He liked to have his rice carefully cleaned and his minced meat chopped small.  He did not eat rice that had been injured by heat or damp or that had turned sour, nor could he eat fish or meat which had gone.  He did not eat anything that was discoloured or that had a bad flavour, or that was not in season.  He would not eat meat badly cut, or that was served with the wrong sauce.  No choice of meats could induce him to eat more than he thought right.