There is the following traditional story: Tzŭ-lu appeared before
Confucius in full dress. Confucius said, "Yu, why so dressed up?[2]
Back where the Chiang comes out from under [Mt.] Min, at the
beginning it is large enough [only] to fill up a beaker.[3]
But by the
time it reaches the river ford, except by putting boats together
and going when there is no wind,
[4]
it is impossible to cross. Is
this not because the accumulated waters are so great?
[5]
Now
overdressed as you are
[6]
and with so severe an expression,
[7]
is
there anyone in the empire to improve on you?"
Tzŭ-lu hastily went out, changed his clothes, and came back
humbly.[8]
Confucius said, "Yu, mark well what I am going to
tell you. He who is cautious about his speech is not loud. He
who is cautious about his conduct does not show off. The man
who shows his knowledge and his skills in his face is a mean fellow.
Truly, `when the superior man knows a thing, he holds that he
knows it, and when he does not know a thing, he admits that he
does not know it.'[9]
This is the important thing in speech. When
he can do a thing, he holds that he can do it, and when he cannot
do a thing he admits that he cannot do it: this is the important
thing in action. In speech the important thing is knowledge; in
action it is jên. The possession of both knowledge and jên—what
more can you add to that?" The Ode says,[10]
T`ang was not born too late,
And his wisdom and virtue daily advanced.