Chapter 20 of The Analects of Confucius Lutz,

Zi Gong asked, "Who is this?" Confucius said, "Those who are ashamed of their actions and make the four sides live up to their lives are also scholars." Yue: "Dare to ask second." Yue: "Clans are called filial piety, while township parties are called brothers." Yue: "Dare to ask second." He said, "You must keep your promise, and your actions will bear fruit. What a little man! Suppression can also be a second time. " He said, "What about politicians today?" Confucius said, "Hey! There are not enough people fighting. "

Here, Zi Gong asked Confucius what kind of person he could call a "scholar". Confucius replied that he was a taxi with courtesy, integrity and honesty, and he could travel in all directions and complete the task of a king. Zigong asked again, what about the one that is almost worse than a taxi? Confucius said that people in the clan praised him for his filial piety, and all the villagers and neighbors regarded him as a brother and a second-class taxi. Zi Gong then asked, What's worse? Confucius said, "You keep your word and do everything. Such a shallow villain is waiting for a taxi again. " . Finally, Zi Gong asked Confucius, What are those people in power now? Confucius said that those people are not great, short and shallow, how can they be regarded as scholars?

Combined with the context of "keeping promises", we can know that the "villain" mentioned by Confucius here is not the villain we understand, but the ordinary people with low status. In Confucius' view, "keeping one's word is true" is the basic requirement for "scholar". If people with low status can do this, they can barely be regarded as "scholars". Therefore, Confucius didn't say that "a promise is a promise, a promise is a promise" is a villain's behavior. Many people in later generations misunderstood this passage in the Analects of Confucius, thinking that Confucius was talking nonsense, but they didn't understand it.

In chapter 17 of The Analects of Confucius Wei Linggong, Confucius said: "It is difficult to have kindness and wisdom if you live in groups all day long!" Confucius said: "a group of people live together all day, but they are not moral and like to use cleverness." It is really difficult to become a virtue! "

Confucius revealed another kind of people here, who have nothing to do all day and have a lot of free time. What they say is immoral and meaningless. Not only that, they often show off their cleverness. This kind of behavior is of no benefit to others or society, and it is difficult for such people to achieve anything.

In the Analects of Confucius, besides having a son, we also talked about the problem of "keeping your word". In chapter 13 of Xuewen, there is a saying from Confucius: "If you believe in the meaning, you can answer it;" Ceremony is close to ceremony, far from shame; Because you don't lose your loved ones, you can still live in it. " It means that a son said, "You should be honest, but close to morality, so that you can keep your promise;" Only by respecting others and approaching etiquette can we stay away from shame; In-laws (although formed by marriage) are not relatives, but can also be regarded as relatives. "