Again, “Three errors there be, into which they who wait upon their superior may fall:—­(1) to speak before the opportunity comes to them to speak, which I call heedless haste; (2) refraining from speaking when the opportunity has come, which I call concealment; and (3) speaking, regardless of the mood he is in, which I call blindness.”

Again, “Three things a superior should guard against:—­(1) against the lusts of the flesh in his earlier years while the vital powers are not fully developed and fixed; (2) against the spirit of combativeness when he has come to the age of robust manhood and when the vital powers are matured and strong, and (3) against ambitiousness when old age has come on and the vital powers have become weak and decayed.”

“Three things also such a man greatly reveres:—­(1) the ordinances of Heaven, (2) great men, (3) words of sages.  The inferior man knows not the ordinances of Heaven and therefore reveres them not, is unduly familiar in the presence of great men, and scoffs at the words of sages.”

“They whose knowledge comes by birth are of all men the first in understanding; they to whom it comes by study are next; men of poor intellectual capacity, who yet study, may be added as a yet inferior class; and lowest of all are they who are poor in intellect and never learn.”

“Nine things there are of which the superior man should be mindful:—­to be clear in vision, quick in hearing, genial in expression, respectful in demeanor, true in word, serious in duty, inquiring in doubt, firmly self-controlled in anger, just and fair when the way to success opens out before him.”

“Some have spoken of ’looking upon goodness as upon something beyond their reach,’ and of ’looking upon evil as like plunging one’s hands into scalding liquid’;—­I have seen the men, I have heard the sayings.

“Some, again, have talked of ’living in seclusion to work out their designs,’ and of ’exercising themselves in righteous living in order to render their principles the more effective’;—­I have heard the sayings, I have not seen the men.”

“Duke King of Ts’i had his thousand teams of four, yet on the day of his death the people had nothing to say of his goodness.  Peh-I and Shuh-Ts’i starved at the foot of Shau-yang, and the people make mention of them to this day.

  ’E’en if not wealth thine object be,
  ‘Tis all the same, thou’rt changed to me.’

“Is not this apropos in such cases?”

Tsz-k’in asked of Pih-yu, “Have you heard anything else peculiar from your father?”

“Not yet,” said he.  “Once, though, he was standing alone when I was hurrying past him over the vestibule, and he said, ’Are you studying the Odes?’ ‘Not yet,’ I replied.  ‘If you do not learn the Odes,’ said he, ‘you will not have the wherewithal for conversing,’ I turned away and studied the Odes.  Another day, when he was again standing alone and I was hurrying past across the vestibule, he said to me, ’Are you learning the Rules of Propriety?’ ‘Not yet,’ I replied.  ’If you have not studied the Rules, you have nothing to stand upon,’ said he.  I turned away and studied the Rules.—­These two things I have heard from him.”