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k'' he said, 'that music could have been made so excellent as this.' CHAP. XIV. 1. Yen Yu said, 'Is our Master for the ruler of Wei?' Tsze-kung said, 'Oh! I will ask him.' 2. He went in accordingly, and said, 'What sort of men were Po-i and Shu-ch'i?' 'They were ancient worthies,' said the Master. 'Did they have any repinings because of their course?' The Master again replied, 'They sought to act virtuously, and they did so; what was there for them to repine about?' On this, Tsze-kung went out and said, 'Our Master is not for him.'
CHAP. XV. The Master said, 'With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow;-- I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honours acquired by unrighteousness, are to me as a floating cloud.' CHAP. XVI. The Master said, 'If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults.' CHAP. XVII The Master's frequent themes of discourse were-- the Odes, the History, and the maintenance of the Rules of Propriety. On all these he frequently discoursed.
CHAP. XVIII. 1. The Duke of Sheh asked Tsze-lu about Confucius, and Tsze-lu did not answer him. 2. The Master said, 'Why did you not say to him,-- He is simply a man, who in his eager pursuit (of knowledge) forgets his food, who in the joy of its attainment forgets his sorrows, and who does not perceive that old age is coming on?' CHAP. XIX. The Master said, 'I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.' CHAP. XX. The subjects on which the Master did not talk, were-- extraordinary things, feats of strength, disorder, and spiritual beings.
CHAP. XXI. The Master said, 'When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them.' CHAP. XXII. The Master said, 'Heaven produced the virtue that is in me. Hwan T'ui-- what can he do to me?' CHAP.
