Page:The sayings of Confucius; a new translation of the greater part of the Confucian analects (IA sayingsofconfuci00confiala).pdf/63

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INDIVIDUAL VIRTUE
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All men are born good. He who loses his goodness and yet lives is lucky to escape.

Better than one who knows what is right is one who is fond of what is right; and better than one who is fond of what is right is one who delights in what is right.

Fan Ch'ih asked in what wisdom consisted. The Master said: Make righteousness in human affairs your aim, treat all supernatural beings with respect, but keep aloof from them—then you may be called wise. Asked about moral virtue, he replied: The virtuous man thinks of the difficult thing[1] first, and makes material advantage only a secondary consideration. This may be said to constitute moral virtue.

The Master said: The man of knowledge finds pleasure in the sea, the man of virtue finds pleasure in the mountains.[2] For the man of knowledge is restless and the man of virtue is calm. The man of knowledge is happy, and the man of virtue is long-lived.

The higher type of man, having gathered wide objective knowledge from the branches of polite learning, will regulate the whole by the inner

  1. That is to say, the virtuous act, which he will perform for its own sake, regardless of consequences.
  2. Each finds pleasure in that part of Nature which resembles himself.