The Master said: If the ruler is personally upright, his subjects will do their duty unbidden; if he is not personally upright, they will not obey, whatever his bidding.
When the Master went to Wei, Jan Yu drove his carriage. The Master said: What an abundant population!--Jan Yu said: Now that the people are so abundant, what is the next thing to be done?—Enrich them, said Confucius.—And having enriched them, what then?—Teach them, was the reply.
The Master said: If a country had none but good rulers for a hundred years, crime might be stamped out and the death-penalty abolished. How true this saying is!
If a kingly sovereign were to appear, by the end of one generation natural goodness would prevail.
If a man can reform his own heart, what should hinder him from taking part in government? But if he cannot reform his own heart, what has he to do with reforming others?
Duke Ting[1] asked if there was a single sentence
- ↑ The weak ruler of the Lu State (510-494 B.C.), who lost the services of Confucius by his infatuation in accepting the business to
business to make himself proficient in these, because the task of governing and setting an example to the governed will claim all his attention. Compare Plato's disapproval of πολυπαγμοσύνη, and Confucius' remarks on his own skill in various arts (p. 88).
