1. Confucius said, "Contemplating good, and pursuing it, as if they could not reach it; contemplating evil, and shrinking from it, as they would from thrusting the hand into boiling water:—I have seen such men, as I have heard such words.

10. NINE SUBJECTS OF THOUGHT TO THE SUPERIOR MAN:—VARIOUS INSTANCES OF THE WAY IN WHICH HE REGULATES HIMSELF. The conciseness of the text contrasts here with the verbosity of the translation, and yet the many words of the latter seem necessary.

11. THE CONTEMPORARIES OF CONFUCIUS COULD ESCHEW EVIL, AND FOLLOW AFTER GOOD, BUT NO ONE OF THE HIGHEST CAPACITY HAD APPEARED AMONG THEM. 1. The two first clauses here and in the next par., also, are quotations of old sayings, current in Confucius' time. Such men were several of the sage's own disciples. 2. 求其志, 'seeking for their aims'; i.e., meditating on them, studying them, fixing them, to be prepared to carry them out, as in the next clause. Such men among the ancients were the great ministers E-yem and T'aekung. Such might the disciple Yen Hwuy have been, but an early death snatched him away before he could have an opportunity of showing what was in him.

2. "Living in retirement to study their aims, and practising righteousness to carry out their principles:—I have heard these words, but I have not seen such men."