To keep silently in mind what one has seen and heard, to study hard and never feel contented, to teach others tirelessly; have I done (all of) these things?
Source: The Analects, Other chapters
默而識之，學而不厭，誨人不倦，何有於我哉？
Source: The Analects, Other chapters
Source: Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844), p. 320
The Devil's Dictionary (1911)
Source: The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary
Source: How to Read a Book (1940, 1972), p. 11-12
Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p.
Context: To be disciplined does not mean being silent, abstaining, or doing only what one thinks one may undertake without risk; it is not the art of eluding responsibility; it means acting in compliance with orders received, and therefore finding in one's own mind, by effort and reflection, the possibility to carry out such orders. It also means finding in one's own will the energy to face the risks involved in execution.
Rejection
One Minute Wisdom (1989)
Context: "What kind of a person does Enlightenment produce?"
Said the Master:
"To be public-spirited and belong to no party,
to move without being bound to any given course,
to take things as they come,
have no remorse for the past,
no anxiety for the future,
to move when pushed,
to come when dragged,
to be like a mighty gale,
like a feather in the wind,
like weeds floating on a river,
like a mill-stone meekly grinding,
to love all creation equally
as heaven and earth are equal to all
— such is the product of Enlightenment."
On hearing these words one of the younger disciples cried, "This sort of teaching is not for the living but for the dead," and walked away, never to return.
The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
The Art of Persuasion
“For neither talent without instruction nor instruction without talent can produce the perfect craftsman.”
Neque enim ingenium sine disciplina aut disciplina sine ingenio perfectum artificem potest efficere.
Neither natural ability without instruction nor instruction without natural ability can make the perfect artist.
Morris Hicky Morgan translation
Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book I, Chapter I, Sec. 3; translation by Frank Granger
Discourses (1967), p. 364.
General sources
Context: One of the most difficult things to learn is to render service without bossing, without making a fuss about it, and without any consciousness of high and low. In the world of spirituality, humility counts at least as much as utility.
