Skillful words, pleasing appearance—little humanity!¹
When one makes their words satisfying and their appearance advantageous, adorning themself on the outside and striving to please people, human desires become unrestrained and the virtue of the original heart is lost. The words of the Sage do not mean to diminish the essential [by making “little” acceptable as still some], for once shrunken down to “little,” soon absolutely nothing can be recognized of one’s humanity. This is what learners ought to deeply guard against.²
– Zhu Xi 朱熹
好其言,善其色,致飾於外,務以悅人,則人欲肆而本心之德亡矣。聖人辭不迫切,專言鮮,則絕無可知,學者所當深戒也。
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If one recognizes the absence of humanity in clever talk and pleasing appearances, then one knows humanity.
– Cheng Yi 程颐
知巧言令色之非仁,則知仁矣。