Superphysics
Civil Service and Education
4 minutes • 830 words
Is there one policy which would make a country prosperous?
A single policy could hardly do so much as that.
But there is a proverb people use which says, ‘To play the prince is hard, to play the minister not easy.’
Assuming that it is understood that ’to play the prince is hard,’ would it not be probable that with that one sentence the country should be made to prosper?"
Is there, then one policy which would ruin a country?
A single policy could hardly do so much as that. But there is a proverb men have which says, ‘Not gladly would I play the prince, unless my words were ne’er withstood.’
Assuming that the words were good, and that none withstood them, would not that also be good? But assuming that they were not good, and yet none withstood them, would it not be probable that with that one saying he would work his country’s ruin?"
The Duke of Sheh consulted him about government.
Where the near are gratified, the far will follow.
Tsz-hi became governor of Ku-fu and consulted Confucius about government.
Do not wish for speedy results. Do not look at trivial advantages. If you wish for speedy results, they will not be far-reaching.
If you regard trivial advantages you will not successfully deal with important affairs.
There are some straightforward persons in my neighborhood. If a father has stolen a sheep, the son will give evidence against him.
Straightforward people in my neighborhood are different. The father will hold a thing secret on his son’s behalf, and the son does the same for his father. They are on their way to becoming straightforward.
What is one’s to one’s fellow-men?
Be courteous in your private sphere. Be serious in any duty you take in hand to do. Be leal-hearted in your intercourse with others.
Even though you were to go amongst the wild tribes, it would not be right for you to neglect these duties.
How would you characterize a ’learned official'?
The most learned have his private life affected with a sense of his own unworthiness. When sent on a mission to any part of the empire, he would not disgrace his prince’s commands.
The next most learned is he who is called as a dutiful son by his kinsmen. His neighborhood would call him ‘good brother’
The next most learned is he who is sure to be true to his word, and effective in his work.
The last most learned is he who has inferior calibre but allow themselves to be hammered.
How would you describe those who are at present in the government service?
Ugh! They are mere peck and panier men, not worth taking into the reckoning. … If I cannot get via media men to impart instruction to, then I must of course take the impetuous and undisciplined!
The impetuous ones will at least go forward and lay hold on things. The undisciplined have at least something in them which needs to be brought out.
The Southerners have the proverb, ‘The man who sticks not to rule will never make a charm-worker or a medical man,’ Good! ‘Whoever is intermittent in his practise of virtue will live to be ashamed of it.’ Without prognostication, that will indeed be so.
The nobler-minded man will be agreeable even when he disagrees; the small-minded man will agree and be disagreeable.
What do you think of a person who was liked by all in his village?
That will scarcely do, whether he is liked or disliked. Better if he were liked by the good folk in the village, and disliked by the bad.
The superior man is easy to serve, but difficult to please. Try to please him by the adoption of wrong principles, and you will fail. Also, when such a one employs others, he uses them according to their capacity. The inferior man is, on the other hand, difficult to serve, but easy to please.
Try to please him by the adoption of wrong principles, and you will succeed. And when he employs others he requires them to be fully prepared for everything.
The superior man can be high without being haughty. The inferior man can be haughty if not high.
The firm, the unflinching, the plain and simple, the slow to speak are approximating towards their duty to their fellow-men."
How would you characterize an “educated gentleman?”
He who can properly be so-called will have in him a seriousness of purpose, a habit of controlling himself, and an agreeableness of manner.
Among his friends and associates the seriousness and the self-control, and among his brethren the agreeableness of manner." “Let good and able men discipline the people for seven years and after that they may do to go to war.
But to lead an undisciplined people to war that I call throwing them away.”
