Sima Shanling
The Master said, 鈥淚f there is a car, you must see its rails; if there is a garment, you must see its wear; if someone talks about it, you must hear its sound; if someone walks about it, you must see its completion. The Ge Tan says, 鈥業f you wear it, you must shoot it.鈥欌 The Master said, 鈥淚f you follow what you say, then your words cannot be embellished; if you follow what you say, then your actions cannot be embellished. Therefore, a gentleman speaks little, but walks to establish his credibility, so that the people cannot exaggerate his virtues and minimize his faults. The Book of Songs says, 鈥楾he stain on the jade tablet can still be polished; the stain on this speech cannot be made.鈥 The Xiaoya says, 鈥楾he gentleman is sincere, and the development is great.鈥 The Jun Shi says, 鈥業n the past, when the God of Heaven was in power, Zhou Tian observed the virtue of King Wen, and he gathered the great destiny in his body.鈥欌 The Master said, 鈥淭he southerners have a saying, 鈥業f a man is not constant, he cannot be used for divination.鈥 Is this the saying left by the ancients? Even the tortoise shells cannot tell, let alone people? The Book of Songs says: 鈥楳y tortoise is tired, but I still don鈥檛 tell it.鈥 The Book of Changes says: 鈥楾he title is not equal to the bad virtue. The people stand up and do the right things. They are pure and offer sacrifices. This is disrespectful; things are complicated and chaotic, and serving the gods is difficult.鈥 The Book of Changes says: 鈥業f you don鈥檛 keep your virtue, you may suffer shame. If you keep your virtue, it will be auspicious for women and bad for men.鈥欌
