quote · Legacy record

When I told him one thing he understands ten. Repay the injury with straightness, but repay a good turn with a good turn. It is not the failure of others to appreciate your qualities, but rather your luck of them. I am a fortunate man. Whenever I make a mistake other people are sure to notice it. What a good man Tzu is, no one can find fault with what his parents and brothers have to say about him. Advise the best - but stop when is no chance of success. Isn’t it pleasant to learn with constant perseverance and application? Isn’t it pleasant to have friends visit from faraway places? Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no unease though men may make no note of him? It is cowardice to see what is right and not to do it. The superior man is conciliatory but not blind-accommodating; the small man is accommodating but not conciliatory. A superior man makes demands upon himself; a small man makes demands upon others. To have faults and not to correct them, this, indeed, is to have faults. To put people to death without having instructed them, that is called cruelty. When you know a thing, say that you know it; when you do not know a thing, admit that you don’t know it. This is wisdom.

When I told him one thing he understands ten. Repay the injury with straightness, but repay a good turn with a good turn. It is not the failure of others to appreciate your qualities, but rather your luck of them. I am a fortunate man. Whenever I make a mistake other people are sure to notice it. What a good man Tzu is, no one can find fault with what his parents and brothers have to say about him. Advise the best - but stop when is no chance of success. Isn’t it pleasant to learn with constant perseverance and application? Isn’t it pleasant to have friends visit from faraway places? Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no unease though men may make no note of him? It is cowardice to see what is right and not to do it. The superior man is conciliatory but not blind-accommodating; the small man is accommodating but not conciliatory. A superior man makes demands upon himself; a small man makes demands upon others. To have faults and not to correct them, this, indeed, is to have faults. To put people to death without having instructed them, that is called cruelty. When you know a thing, say that you know it; when you do not know a thing, admit that you don’t know it. This is wisdom.

Approximate author period: c. 515 BC · ancient