On the Analects of Confuicus by Alex Leibowitz 1.1.

The master said, "To learn and in time accustom oneself to what one learns, isn't that pleasant? To have friends who come from far away, isn't that fortunate? If someone though unknown be not aggrieved, isn't he a great master?" The three blessings are learning (), friendship (), and humility. The man who partakes of these blessings can be called a great master (). Learning must be extended through practice (), and timely practice () becomes habit. You would not discover many areas in a which a man, through practice, made no progress. Thus with skill we must remember humility, as the old oil salesman said: " " -- "What I have is nothing other than a skilled hand." For the great ambition of men is to put their skills into practice, and to be praised for doing good. But to have acquired the skill, merely to be able to do what is good, is itself worthy of praise, even if one is not in a position to do it. And to be worthy of being praised, as Aristotle remarks, is the end of being praised: " , , ." -- "For still [those who aim to honor] seem to pursue it so that they might believe themselves to be good. So they seek to be honored by the prudent, and by those with whom they are acquainted, and because of excellence. So that it is clear that for such men as these excellence is higher [than honor]." To be known () -- or alternatively for men to know you -- is to be honored and to be esteemed according to one's talents, but as we have said, it is better to be worthy of being known than to be known. And the master himself has said this: ""-- "It is no trouble that no one knows me, for I must seek to be worth knowing." This is also evidenced by the life of the master, for he wandered from kingdom to kingdom and received no employment, but he constantly strove by learning and courtesy to be worth employing, and we can hope that had he been employed, the people would have known justice. For the master did not believe, as Socrates believed, that there is no place in politics for an honest man, but rather that there is no place for an honest man, except in politics. But whether we are esteemed is not up to us, and we should take care lest we are bitter and worthless, for it is too much even to be bitter and worthy, but the worthy enjoy their own worth. And if in addition to our learning and our worth we attract friends who take pains to pleasure us with their company, we can regard ourselves as happy. For to have many friends in many places and to see them though they live far away is worth celebrating, indeed. These then are the ideals we must strive for: to learn much and to accustom ourselves to our learning, to make many friends and to enjoy most of all the pleasures of their friendship, and to make ourselves worthy of the honor of serving others, whether we are entrusted with responsibilities or whether we are passed over. 1.2.

 Master You said: "By his acts a man of piety and fraternity, who yet loves to offend against his superiors, is rare indeed; who does not love to offend against his superiors, but yet loves to make trouble -- there are none such. A great master attends to the root; when the root are planted, the way grows up. The acts of a pious and fraternal man might indeed be the root of humanity." Humanity () is our great ideal. Humanity is what is common to men () -- it is that in virtue of which we are men -- and to achieve humanity is to become fully human. Humanity is what a human is to be. Master You asks us to consider, what are the roots of humanity? And what is contrary to humanity? Well why do we look for the roots? Because, says Master You, when the roots are planted, the way grows up (). It is for this reason that the roots are the great master's concern. The way () is likewise something natural: men have the seeds of goodness in themselves. The roots of humanity break out of the seeds. Tending to one's own nature is way to humanity. And the happiness of human beings is like the flourishing of a plant, which grows up healthy and strong all of itself provided the conditions for its progress are ripe. That is why we must take care to cultivate ourselves and to remove impediments. If only we can remove the impediments, we do not need to worry about the impulse, for the impulse is innate. Is it the case, then, that only by means of the great master will the way spring up, but only if the way has sprung up will there be a great master? No, for the master and the way grow together -- to become a great master is the way to be a great master. Humanity is not something beyond our reach: it is what we are already. He who knows this becomes humane. Master You would have us consider the roots of humanity to be piety () and fraternity (). Human beings do not grow alone, and tending to oneself means tending to the others. Seeing humanity in the others, taking care of it in the others, removing impediments to its grow in the others, is also necessary. To look after the others as one looks after oneself is . But to submit and be looked after by the others as one submits to be looked after by oneself and as the others submit to be looked after by oneself is piety (). It is admitting that the others know you better than you know yourself, in a way. For piety is also submitting to be governed by those who know the good, and insofar as we recognize that we do not know our good better than the others, we will submit to be governed by them too.