7.1  Master Kong said: I transmit but do not create. I believe in and love the ancients. I venture to compare myself to our old Peng.¹

子曰：「述而不作，信而好古，竊比於我老彭。」

7.2  Master Kong said: To remember silently [what I have learned], to learn untiringly, and to teach others without being wearied—that is just natural with me.

子曰：「默而識之，學而不厭，誨人不倦，何有於我哉？」

7.6  Master Kong said: Set your will on the Way. Have a firm grasp on virtue. Rely on humanity. Find recreation in the arts.

子曰：「志於道，據於德，依於仁，游於藝。」

7.7  Master Kong said: There has never been anyone who came with as little a present as dried meat [for tuition] that I have refused to teach him something.

子曰：「自行束脩以上，吾未嘗無誨焉。」

7.8  Master Kong said: I do not enlighten those who are not eager to learn, nor arouse those who are not anxious to give an explanation themselves. If I have presented one corner of the square and they cannot come back to me with the other three, I should not go over the points again.

子曰：「不憤不啟，不悱不發，舉一隅不以三隅反，則不復也。」

7.16  Master Kong said: With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and with a bent arm for a pillow, there is still joy. Wealth and honor obtained through unrighteousness are but floating clouds to me.

子曰：「飯疏食飲水，曲肱而枕之，樂亦在其中矣。不義而富且貴，於我如浮雲。」

7.17  Master Kong said: Give me a few more years so that I can devote fifty years to study [the Book of Changes²]. I may be free from great mistakes.

子曰：「加我數年，五十以學易，可以無大過矣。」

7.18  These were the things Master Kong often talked about—poetry, history, and the performance of the rules of propriety. All these were what he often talked about.

子所雅言，詩、書、執禮，皆雅言也。

7.19  The Duke of She³ asked Zilu about Master Kong, and Zilu did not answer.

Kongzi said: Why didn’t you say that I am a person who forgets his food when engaged in vigorous pursuit of something, is so happy as to forget his worries, and is not aware that old age is coming on?

葉公問孔子於子路，子路不對。子曰：「女奚不曰，其為人也，發憤忘食，樂以忘憂，不知老之將至云爾。」

7.20  Master Kong said: I am not one who was born with knowledge; I love ancient [teaching] and earnestly seek it.

子曰：「我非生而知之者，好古，敏以求之者也。」

7.21  Master Kong never discussed strange phenomena, physical exploits, disorder, or spiritual beings.

子不語怪，力，亂，神。

7.23  Master Kong said: Heaven produced the virtue that is in me; what can Huan Tui⁴ do to me?

子曰：「天生德於予，桓魋其如予何？」

7.25  Master Kong taught four things: culture, conduct, loyalty, and faithfulness.

子以四教：文，行，忠，信。

7.27  Master Kong fished with a line but not a net. While shooting he would not shoot a bird at rest.

子釣而不綱，弋不射宿。

7.28  Master Kong said: There are those who act without knowing [what is right]. But I am not one of them. To hear much and select what is good and follow it, to see much and remember it, is the second type of knowledge [next to innate knowledge].

子曰：「蓋有不知而作之者，我無是也。多聞擇其善者而從之，多見而識之，知之次也。」

7.30  Master Kong said: Is humanity far away? As soon as I want it, there it is right by me.

子曰：「仁遠乎哉？我欲仁，斯仁至矣。」

7.35  Master Kong was very ill. Zilu asked that prayer be offered.

Kongzi said: Is there such a thing?

Zilu replied: There is. A Eulogy says, “Pray to the spiritual beings above and below.”

Kongzi said: My prayer has been for a long time [that is, what counts is the life that one leads].

子疾病，子路請禱。子曰：「有諸？」子路對曰：「有之。誄曰：『禱爾于上下神祇。』」子曰：「丘之禱久矣。」

7.38  Master Kong is affable but dignified, austere but not harsh, polite but completely at ease.

子溫而厲，威而不猛，恭而安。