Sima Limin
The Master said, “If 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, ‘If you wear it, you must shoot it.’” The Master said, “If 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, ‘The stain on the jade tablet can still be polished; the stain on this speech cannot be made.’ The Xiaoya says, ‘The gentleman is sincere, and the development is great.’ The Jun Shi says, ‘In 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.’” The Master said, “The southerners have a saying, ‘If a man is not constant, he cannot be used for divination.’ Is this the saying left by the ancients? Even the tortoise shells cannot tell, let alone people? The Book of Songs says: ‘My tortoise is tired, but I still don’t tell it.’ The Book of Changes says: ‘The 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.’ The Book of Changes says: ‘If you don’t keep your virtue, you may suffer shame. If you keep your virtue, it will be auspicious for women and bad for men.’”
