1 #title The Wisdom of the Ancients
8 Ch'en Tai said, "When you refused even to see them, the feudal lords
9 appeared insignificant to you. Now that you have seen them, they are
10 either kings, or, at least, leaders of the feudal lords. Moreover,
11 it is said in the *Records*, 'Bend the foot in order to straighten
12 the yard.' That seems worth doing."
14 "Once," said Mencius, "Duke Ching of Ch'i went hunting and summoned
15 his gamekeeper with a pennon. The gamekeeper did not come, and the
16 Duke was going to have him put to death. 'A man whose mind is set on
17 high ideals never forgets that he may end in a ditch; a man of valor
18 never forgets that he may forfeit his head.' What did Conficius find
19 praiseworthy in the gamekeeper? His refusal to answer to a form of
20 summons to which he was not entitled. What can one do about those
21 who go without even being summoned? Moreover, the saying, 'Bend the
22 foot in order to straighten the yard' refers to profit. If it is for
23 profit, I suppose one might just as well bend the yard to straighten
26 "Once, Viscount Chien of Chao sent Wang Liang to drive the chariot
27 for his favorite, Hsi. In the whole day they failed to catch one
28 single bird. Hsi reported to his master, 'He is the worst charioteer
29 in the world.' Someone told Wang Liang of this. Liang asked, 'May I
30 have another chance?' It was with difficulty that Hsi was persuaded,
31 but in one morning they caught ten birds. Hsi reported to his
32 master, 'He is the best charioteer in the world.' 'I shall make him
33 drive for you,' said Viscount Chien. He asked Wang Liang, but
34 Wang Liang refused. 'I drove for him according to the proper rules,'
35 said he, 'and we did not catch a single bird all day. Then I used
36 underhand methods, and we caught ten birds in one morning. The *Book
40 He never failed to drive correctly,
41 And his arrows went straight for the target
44 I am not used to driving for small men. May I be excused?'
46 "Even a charioteer is ashamed to be in league with an archer. When
47 doing so means catching enough birds to pile up like a mountain, he
48 would still rather not do it. What can one do about those who bend
49 the Way in order to please others? You are futher mistaken. There
50 has never been a man who could straighten others by bending
57 Mencius said, "Fish is what I want; bear's palm is also what I
58 want. If I cannot have both, I would rather take bear's palm than
59 fish. Life is what I want; dutifulness is also what I want. If I
60 cannot have both, I would rather take dutifulness than life. On the
61 one hand, though life is what I want, there is something I want more
62 than life. That is why I do not cling to life at all costs. On the
63 other hand, though death is what I loathe, there is something I
64 loathe more than death. That is why there are troubles I do not
65 avoid. If there is nothing a man wants more than life, then why
66 should he have scruples about any means, so long as it will serve to
67 keep him alive? if there is nothing a man loathes more than death,
68 then why should have have scruples about any means, so long as it
69 helps him to avoid trouble? Yet there are ways of remaining alive
70 and ways of avoiding death to which a man will not resort. In other
71 words, there are things a man wants more than life and there are
72 also things he loathes more than death. This is an attitude not
73 confined to the moral man but common to all men. The moral man simply
76 "Here is a basketful of rice and a bowful of soup. Getting them will
77 mean life; not getting them will mean death. When these are given
78 with abuse, even a wayfarer would not accept them; when these are
79 given after being trampled upon, even a beggar would not accept
80 them. Yet when it comes to ten thousand bushels of grain one is
81 supposed to accept without asking if it is in accordance with the
82 rites or if it is right to do so. What benefit are then thousand
83 bushels of grain to me? [Do I accept them] for the sake of beautiful
84 houses, the enjoyment of wives and concubines, or for the sake of
85 the gratitude my needy acquaintances will show? What I would not
86 accept in the first instance when it was a matter of life and death
87 I now accept for the sake of beautiful houses; what I would not
88 accept when it was a matter of life and death I now accept for the
89 enjoyment of wives and concubines; what I would not accept when it
90 was a matter of life and death I now accept for the sake of the
91 gratitude my needy acquaintances will show me. Is there no way of
92 putting a stop to this? This way of thinking is known as losing
93 one's original heart."
101 1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
102 2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
103 3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
104 4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth
106 5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place
108 6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it
109 whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his
111 7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place
112 from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
113 8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not
114 satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
115 9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done
116 is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
117 10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been
118 already of old time, which was before us.
119 11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any
120 remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.
121 12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
122 13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things
123 that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man
124 to be exercised therewith.
125 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is
126 vanity and vexation of spirit.
127 15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting
129 16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and
130 have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem:
131 yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
132 17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I
133 perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
134 18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge
143 A feature in which our age certainly excels that age in Greece is that
144 our age is more depressed and therefore deeper in despair. Thus, our
145 age is sufficiently depressed to know that there is something called
146 responsibility and that this means something. Therefore, although
147 everyone wants to rule, no one wants to have responsibility. It is
148 still fresh in our memory that a French statesman, when offered a
149 portfolio the second time, declared that he would accept it but on the
150 condition that the secretary of state be made responsible. It is well
151 known that the king in France is not responsible, but the prime
152 minister is; the prime minister does not wish to be responsible but
153 wants to be prime minister provided that the secretary of state will
154 be responsible; ultimately it ends, of course, with the watchmen or
155 street commissioners becoming responsible. Would not this inverted
156 story of responsibility be an appropriate subject for Aristophanes! On
157 the other hand, why are the government and the governors so afraid of
158 assuming responsibility, unless it is because they fear an opposition
159 party that in turn continually pushes away responsibility on a similar
160 scale. When one imagines these two powers face to face with each other
161 but unable to catch hold of each other because the one is always
162 disappearing and is replaced by the other--such a situation would
163 certainly not be without comic power.
168 ** Beyond Good and Evil
171 **30.** Our highest insights must---and should---sound
172 like follies and sometimes like crimes when they are heard without
173 permission by those who are not predisposed and predestined for
174 them. The difference between the exoteric and the esoteric, formerly
175 known to philosophers---among the Indians as among the Greek,
176 Persians, and Muslims, in short, wherever one believed in an order of
177 rank and *not* in equality and equal rights---does not so much
178 consists in this, that the exoteric approach comes from the outside
179 and sees, estimates, measures, and judges from the outside, not the
180 inside; what is much more essential is that the exoteric approach sees
181 things from below, the esoteric looks *down from above*. There
182 are heights of the soul from which even tragedy ceases to look tragic;
183 and rolling together all the woe of the world---who could dare to
184 decide whether its sight would *necessarily* seduce us and
185 compel us to feel pity and thus double this woe?
187 What serves the higher type of men as nourishment or delectation must
188 almost be poison for a very different and inferior type. The virtues
189 of the common man might perhaps signify vices and weaknesses in a
190 philosopher. It could be possible that a man of a high type, when
191 degenerating and perishing, might only at that point acquire qualities
192 that would require those in the lower sphere into which he had sunk to
193 begin to venerate him like a saint. There are books that have opposite
194 values for soul and health, depending on whether the lower soul, the
195 lower vitality, or the higher and more vigorous ones turn to them: in
196 the former case, these books are dangerous and lead to crumbling and
197 disintegration; in the latter, heralds' cries that call the bravest to
198 *their* courage. Books for all the world are always
199 foul-smelling books: the smell of small people clings to them. Where
200 the people eat and drink, even where they venerate, it usually
201 stinks. One should not go to church if one wants to breathe
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