"Serve the country with courtesy, but he will not give in to his words" means: The country must be governed by social behavioral norms, but he will not give in to his words.

From "The Analects of Confucius·Advance": The third son is born, Zeng Xi is the queen. Zeng Xi asked: "What are the words of the three masters?" Confucius said: "Each of them has stated his ambition." He said: "Master, what are you saying?" He said: "Serve the country with courtesy, but his words are not compromised. , that’s why.”

Translation: Zi Lu, Ran You, and Gong Xihua all went out, and Zeng Xi followed. He asked Confucius: "What do the three of them say?" Confucius said: "They are just talking about their own ambitions." Zeng Xi said: "Master, why do you laugh at Zhongyou?" Confucius said: "Governing a country requires He was polite, but he was not polite at all, so I laughed at him."

Extended information:

The Analects of Confucius·The Advanced Chapter comes from "The Analects of Confucius", and it has 26 chapters. It mainly explains the golden mean thought of "too much is not enough", the relationship between learning various knowledge and becoming an official in the future, and Confucius' attitude towards ghosts, gods, and issues of life and death.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, people were divided into nobles, commoners and country people based on their social status and place of residence. Confucius believed here that those who first became officials, that is, those who originally had titles and salaries, did not receive systematic education in ritual and music knowledge before becoming officials, and they became officials without knowing how to be officials.

Such people are not available. As for those civilians who originally did not have titles or honors, they had comprehensively and systematically learned the knowledge of rituals and music before becoming officials, and then they knew how to be officials and how to be a good official.

Confucius believed that the methods of governing the country by Zi Lu, Ran You, and Gong Xihua did not touch on the fundamentals. The reason why he only appreciated Zeng Dian's proposition was because Zeng Dian vividly described the scene under the rule of ritual and music, embodying the governing principles of "benevolence" and "propriety". This touches on the fundamental point. In this chapter, Confucius and his students describe their political ambitions, from which we can see Confucius' political ideals.

Baidu Encyclopedia-The Analects·Advanced Chapter