I can no longer associate with people who follow the golden mean, but only with the mad and the ruthless; The madman is reckless, enterprising, and daring; The recalcitrant is withdrawn, and he does not dare to do some things. There is a saying among southerners: "If you don't have perseverance in doing things, you can't be a witch doctor." What a good saying! If a person does not maintain his virtue for a long time, he will inevitably suffer disgrace; This sentence means that those who do not have perseverance do not need to tell the fortunes. Confucius said: A gentleman stresses harmony and does not seek harmony, and a villain only seeks complete uniformity, but does not pay attention to coordination.

Zigong asked Confucius: A person, the whole village likes him and praises him, how do you feel about this person? Confucius replied: This does not mean anything; Zigong asked again: A person, the whole village hates him and hates him, how do you feel about this person? Confucius replied: This does not mean anything; The best man is that the good people of the whole town like him, and the bad people of the whole town hate him. Confucius said: It is easy to do things for a gentleman, but it is difficult to win his like; If you don't please him in the right way, he won't like it; But when a gentleman uses people, he always uses what he wants; It's hard to do things for the villain, but it's easy to get his liking; If you don't please him in the right way, you will get his liking; But when it comes time for him to employ people, he demands full blame.

The gentleman is quiet and frank but not arrogant and rude, and the villain is arrogant and rude but not quiet and calm. Strong, resolute, simple, and prudent, those who possess these four qualities are close to benevolence. Zilu asked Confucius: Master, what can I do to be called a sergeant? Confucius told him: Supervise and encourage each other, and everyone gets along harmoniously together, so that you can be called a sergeant; Friends should urge each other, and brothers should be harmonious with each other. Confucius said: A good man teaches the people for seven years, and then he can let them go to war; If the civilian population is not trained in combat in advance, it is called abandoning them.

(14) "Constitutional Questions"

There are 44 chapters in the Constitution, and the famous sentence is: "When you see wealth, you should think of the demands of righteousness; When encountering danger, he can give his life at a critical moment"; "A gentleman is upward to benevolence and righteousness, and a villain is downward to financial gain"; "If you are not in that position, don't think about the things in that position"; "A gentleman never considers more than his own authority"; "A gentleman thinks it is shameful to say too much and do little"; "Cultivate yourselves so that all the people may be happy"; "The virtuous do not grieve, the wise do not deceive, and the brave do not fear." The main contents contained in this article are: certain virtues that must be possessed as a gentleman; Confucius's comments on various phenomena in society at that time; Confucius put forward the concept of righteousness and benefit of "seeing the meaning of the benefit" and so on.

Yuan Xian asked Confucius what shame was, and Confucius replied: The country has a way, and you can be an official and take a fortune; The country has no way, and it is shameful to be an official and get money; Yuan Xian asked again: Competitiveness, boasting, resentment, greed, people who don't have these can be regarded as benevolent? Confucius replied: It can be said that it is very rare to do this, but as for whether it is benevolent or not, then I don't know. Confucius said: If a scholar is nostalgic for the comfortable life at home, he is not worthy of being a scholar. The country has a way, and it must be right to speak and act; The country has no way, and it needs to be upright, but it needs to be easy-going and cautious when speaking. A moral person must have speech, but a person with speech is not necessarily moral; Benevolence is necessarily brave, but brave people do not necessarily have benevolence.

Nangong Shi asked Confucius for advice: Yi is good at archery, 奡 (ào) is good at water warfare, and in the end, they can't die well; Yu and Ji both planted crops themselves, but they got the world, why is this? Confucius was silent and did not answer; After Nangong Shi went out, Confucius said: This person is really a gentleman! This is a person who truly respects morality! Confucius said: There are people who are not virtuous among the gentlemen, but there are no virtuous people among the villains. If you love him, you will always work for him; Be faithful to him, and you will give him counsel at all times.

Meng Gongyu became a retainer of the Yue clan and the Wei clan of the Jin Kingdom, and with his talent, he was at ease; However, he can't be a doctor in a small country like Teng and Xue, because it is inappropriate to do that. The official documents published by Zheng Guo were all drafted by 裨谌 (bìchén), then scrutinized and considered by Uncle Shi, revised and adjusted by the diplomat Ziyu, and finally edited and completed by Zichan. (Explain it here.) Official documents are like holy decrees, which must not be played with by children, and must go through the four procedures of creating, discussing, retouching, and polishing. It can be seen that the quantity is applicable, and it is important to emphasize the division of labor and cooperation! ）

Someone asked Confucius what kind of person Zheng Guo's master Zichan was, and Confucius replied: Zichan is a person who is kind to the people; Someone asked Confucius about the situation of Yin Zixi, the commander of the state of Chu, and Confucius just replied: He! Him! Someone asked Confucius about Guan Zhong of Qi State, and Confucius replied: Guan Zhong is a talented man, and he took away the 300 households of Bo's Piaoyi, so that Bo can only eat coarse tea and light rice, but Bo has no complaints until he dies of old age. Confucius said: It is difficult to be poor without resentment; Being rich without being proud is easy to do.

Zilu asked Confucius for advice on how to be a perfect person, and Confucius replied to him: If a person has the wisdom of Zang Wuzhong, the restraint of Meng Gongxuan, the courage of Bian Zhuangzi, and the versatility of Ran, and then decorates it with etiquette and music, he can be regarded as a perfect person. Confucius then replied, "Why does a perfect person have to be like that now? When faced with wealth, we can think of the requirements of righteousness; When the country is in danger, he can give his life at a critical moment; Although he has been in poverty for a long time, he never forgets his daily promises, so that he can become a perfect person.

When Confucius inquired about his uncle Wenzi from Gongming Jia, he asked: I heard that Mr. Gongshu Wenzi does not speak, laugh, or take money, is this true? After hearing this, Gongmingjia replied with a smile: This is the fault of the person who sent you the message, and he did not explain it; Uncle Wenzi, Mr. Wenzi, he only said it when it was time to speak, so others were not disgusted with him talking; He laughs when he's happy, so others don't hate him laughing; He will take only what is courteous, so that others are not disgusted with him taking money; After hearing this, Confucius couldn't help but sigh: So that's the case! Confucius said: Zang Wuzhong, relying on his fiefdom to defend the city, asked the king of Lu to make his descendants a doctor; Although he is not blackmailing, I still don't believe it.

(Zang Wuzhong was framed by others and fled to the neighboring kingdom of Yi.) Soon, he returned to his fiefdom Fangyi, and asked the descendants of the Zang clan of Luxiang Gong to be the Qing doctor, inherit his fiefdom, and leave here by himself. Zang Wuzhong's words seemed humble, but there was an implication in his words that if he did not agree to his request, he would rebel. In the end, Lu Xianggong agreed to his request and gave the defense to his brother. Later, Zang Wuzhong fled to the state of Qi. When Confucius commented on Zang Wuzhong's actions, he not only affirmed his intelligence, but also exposed his behavior of blackmailing the monarch from a moral point of view. In Confucius's expression, to a large extent, the characteristics of Confucius in narration are reflected, that is, the "Spring and Autumn brushwork" that implies praise and disapproval and euphemistic expression. ）