A modern English adaption of the Analects of Confucius.
Sima Niu was in distress. He said, “Everyone has brothers! I alone have none!”
Zixia said, “I have heard a proverb:
‘Life and death are up to fate,
Wealth and honors are up to Heaven.’
“Because the noble person behaves with reverence and tries to be free of error, is courteous to others and behaves with ritual correctness, all within the Four Seas are his brothers. How can a noble person worry about not having brothers?”
Confucius said, “I’ve heard the saying,
“‘In seeing the good, rushing to catch up,In seeing what is not good, recoiling as if touching boiling water.’”
“I’ve heard the saying, and known people like this. But I’ve also heard,
“‘Living in reclusion to pursue the heart’s purpose Practicing what is right to pursue the Way.’”
“I’ve heard this saying, but I haven’t known any people like this.”