THE SAYINGS OF CONFUCIUS
A NEW TRANSLATION OF THE GREATER
PART OF THE CONFUCIAN ANALECTS
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
By
LIONEL GILES, M.A. (Oxon.)
ASSISTANT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL BOOKS
AND MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM
THE WISDOM OF THE EAST SERIES
Edited by
L. CRANMER-BYNG
Dr. S. A. KAPADIA.
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
1910
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL DISCIPLES
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
INDIVIDUAL VIRTUE
CONFUCIUS' ESTIMATE OF OTHERS
CONFUCIUS ON HIMSELF
MISCELLANEOUS SAYINGS
PERSONALIA
CONFUCIUS AS SEEN BY OTHERS
SAYINGS OF THE DISCIPLES
EDITORIAL NOTE
The object of the Editors of this series is a very definite one.They desire above all things that, in their humble way, these booksshall be the ambassadors of goodwill and understanding between Eastand West—the old world of Thought and the new of Action. In thisendeavour, and in their own sphere, they are but followers of thehighest example in the land. They are confident that a deeper knowledgeof the great ideals and lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may helpto a revival of that true spirit of Charity which neither despises norfears the nations of another creed and colour. Finally, in thankingpress and public for the very cordial reception given to the "Wisdom ofthe East" Series, they wish to state that no pains have been spared tosecure the best specialists for the treatment of the various subjectsat hand.
L. CRANMER-BYNG.
S. A. KAPADIA.
NORTHBROOK SOCIETY,
185, PICCADILLY, W.
INTRODUCTION
Confucius is one of the few supremely great figures in the world'shistory. A man's greatness must always be measured, in the firstplace, by the consensus of opinion in his own country; the judgment offoreigners can only be allowed to have a secondary value. Especiallyis this true when the critics are not only foreigners, but belong to atotally different order of civilisation from the men whose greatnessthey would appraise. For even if they can keep their minds free frompurely national bias of the unreasoning sort, they will naturally lookfor such attributes as are highly prized among themselves, and feeldisappointed if these are not much in evidence. They will be apt to seecertain defects too plain