The Master said, "Am I indeed possessed of knowledge? I am not knowing.
子曰：“吾有知乎哉？无知也。
But if a mean person, who appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it."
有鄙夫问于我，空空如也。我叩其两端而竭焉。”
The Master said, "The Fang bird does not come; the river sends forth no map: it is all over with me!"
子曰：“凤鸟不至，河不出图，吾已矣夫！”
When the Master saw a person in a mourning dress, or any one with the cap and upper and lower garments of full dress, or a blind person,
子见齐衰者、冕衣裳者与瞽者，
on observing them approaching, though they were younger than himself, he would rise up, and if he had to pass by them, he would do so hastily.
见之，虽少，必作，过之必趋。

Yen Yuan, in admiration of the Master's doctrines, sighed and said,
颜渊喟然叹曰：
"I looked up to them, and they seemed to become more high;
“仰之弥高，
I tried to penetrate them, and they seemed to become more firm;
钻之弥坚。
I looked at them before me, and suddenly they seemed to be behind.
瞻之在前，忽焉在后。
"The Master, by orderly method, skillfully leads men on.
夫子循循然善诱人，
He enlarged my mind with learning, and taught me the restraints of propriety.
博我以文，约我以礼，
"When I wish to give over the study of his doctrines, I cannot do so,
欲罢不能。
and having exerted all my ability, there seems something to stand right up before me;
既竭吾才，如有所立卓尔，
but though I wish to follow and lay hold of it, I really find no way to do so."
虽欲从之，末由也已。”