talk, but talkers are not
always men of mind. Love is always bold, though boldness is found
without love.

6. Nan-kung Kuo said to Confucius, Yi[129] shot well, Ao pushed a boat
over land: each died before his time. Yue and Chi toiled at their
crops, and had all below heaven.

The Master did not answer. But when Nan-kung Kuo had gone, he said,
What a gentleman he is! How he honours mind!

[Footnote 128: The disciple Yuean Ssu.]

[Footnote 129: Yi was killed by his best pupil, who said to himself,
In all the world no one but Yi shoots better than I do. So he killed
him.]

7. The Master said, Alas! there have been gentlemen without love! But
there has never been a small man that was not wanting in love.

8. The Master said, Can he love thee that never tasks thee? Can he be
faithful that never chides?

9. The Master said, The decrees were drafted by P'i Shen, criticised
by Shih-shu, polished by the Foreign Minister Tzu-yue, and given the
final touches by Tzu-ch'an of Tung-li.

10. When he was asked what he thought of Tzu-ch'an, the Master said, A
kind-hearted man.

Asked what he thought of Tzu-hsi, the Master said, Of him! What I
think of him!

Asked what he thought of Kuan Chung,[130] the Master said, He was the
man that drove the Po from the town of Pien with its three hundred
households to end his days on coarse rice, without his muttering a
word.

[Footnote 130: See note to Book III, Sec. 22.]

11. The Master said, Not to grumble at being poor is hard, not to be
proud of wealth is easy.

12. The Master said, Meng Kung-ch'o is more than fit to be steward of
Chao or Wei, but he could not be minister of T'eng or Hsieh.

13. Tzu-lu asked what would make a full-grown man.

The Master said, The wisdom of Tsang Wu-chung, Kung-ch'o's lack of
greed, Chuang of Pien's boldness and the skill of Jan Ch'iu, graced by
courtesy and music, might make a full-grown man.

But now, he said, who asks the like of a full-grown man? He that in
sight of gain thinks of right, who when danger looms stakes his life,
who, though the bond be old, does not forget what he has been saying
all his life, might make a full-grown man.

14. Speaking of Kung-shu Wen, the Master said to Kung-ming Chia, Is it
true that thy master does not speak, nor laugh, nor take a gift?

Kung-ming Chia answered, That is saying too much. My master only
speaks when the time comes, so no one tires of his speaking; he only
laughs when he is merry, so n