When Confucius heard of this he remarked, "He may well be esteemed a 'Wan,'" The Master having made some reference to the lawless ways of Duke Ling of Wei, Ki K'ang said to him, "If he be like that, how is it he does not ruin his position?" Confucius answered, "The Chung-shuh, Yu, is charged with the entertainment of visitors and strangers; the priest T'o has charge of the ancestral temple; and Wang-sun Kiá has the control of the army and its divisions:--with men such as those, how should he come to ruin?" He once remarked, "He who is unblushing in his words will with difficulty substantiate them." Ch'in Shing had slain Duke Kien. Hearing of this, Confucius, after performing his ablutions, went to Court and announced the news to Duke Ngai, saying, "Ch'in Hang has slain his prince. May I request that you proceed against him?" "Inform the Chiefs of the Three Families," said the duke. Soliloquizing upon this, Confucius said, "Since he uses me to back his ministers, [30] I did not dare not to announce the matter to him; and now he says, 'Inform the Three Chiefs.'" He went to the Three Chiefs and informed them, but nothing could be done. Whereupon again he said, "Since he uses me to back his ministers, I did not dare not to announce the matter." Tsz-lu was questioning him as to how he should serve his prince. "Deceive him not, but reprove him," he answered. "The minds of superior men," he observed, "trend upwards; those of inferior men trend downwards." Again, "Students of old fixed their eyes upon themselves: now they learn with their eyes upon others." Kü Pih-yuh despatched a man with a message to Confucius. Confucius gave him a seat, and among other inquiries he asked, "How is your master managing?" "My master," he replied, "has a great wish to be seldom at fault, and as yet he cannot manage it." "What a messenger!" exclaimed he admiringly, when the man went out. "What a messenger!" "When not occupying the office," was a remark of his, "devise not the policy." The Learned Tsang used to say, "The thoughts of the 'superior man' do not wander from his own office." "Superior men," said the Master, "are modest in their words, profuse in their deeds." Again, "There are three attainments of the superior man which are beyond me--the being sympathetic without anxiety, wise without scepticism, brave without fear." "Sir," said Tsz-kung, "that is what you say of yourself." Whenever Tsz-kung drew comparisons from others, the Master would say, "Ah, how wise and great you must have become! Now I have no time to do that." Again, "My great concern is, not that men do not know me, but that they cannot." Again, "If a man refrain from making preparations against his being imposed upon, and from counting upon others' want of good faith towards him, while he is foremost to perceive what is passing--surely that is a wise and good man."