The Master said, "He who puts on an appearance of stern firmness, while inwardly he is weak, is like one of the small, mean people,
子曰：“色厉而内荏，譬诸小人，
yea, is he not like the thief who breaks through, or climbs over, a wall?"
其犹穿窬之盗也与？”
The Master said, "Your good, careful people of the villages are the thieves of virtue."
子曰：“乡愿，德之贼也。”
The Master said, "To tell, as we go along, what we have heard on the way, is to cast away our virtue."
子曰：“道听而涂说，德之弃也。”
The Master said, "There are those mean creatures! How impossible it is along with them to serve one's prince!
子曰：“鄙夫可与事君也与哉？
While they have not got their aims, their anxiety is how to get them;
其未得之也，患得之；

When they have got them, their anxiety is lest they should lose them;
既得之，患失之；
When they are anxious lest such things should be lost, there is nothing to which they will not proceed."
苟患失之，无所不至矣。”
The Master said, "Anciently, men had three failings, which now perhaps are not to be found.
子曰：“古者民有三疾，今也或是之亡也。
The high-mindedness of antiquity showed itself in a disregard of small things, the high-mindedness of the present day shows itself in wild license;
古之狂也肆，今之狂也荡；
The stern dignity of antiquity showed itself in grave reserve, the stern dignity of the present day shows itself in quarrelsome perverseness;
古之矜也廉，今之矜也忿戾；
The stupidity of antiquity showed itself in straightforwardness, the stupidity of the present day shows itself in sheer deceit."
古之愚也直，今之愚也诈而已矣。”