Page:The sayings of Confucius; a new translation of the greater part of the Confucian analects (IA sayingsofconfuci00confiala).pdf/103

 versable people, and when a young man from those parts came to see Confucius, the disciples hesitated to let him in. But the Master said: When a man comes to me, I accept him at his best, not at his worst. Why make so much ado? When a man washes his hands before paying a visit, and you receive him in that clean state, you do not thereby stand surety for his always having been clean in the past.

The Master said: Is virtue then so remote? I have only to show a desire for virtue, and lo! it is here.

The Master said: Prodigality begets arrogance, parsimony begets niggardliness. But it is better to be niggardly than arrogant.

Without due self-restraint, courtesy becomes oppressive, prudence degenerates into timidity, valour into violence, and candour into rudeness.

Love of daring and dread of poverty lead to