{"id":15263,"date":"2025-10-26T14:06:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T13:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/?p=15263"},"modified":"2025-10-29T08:17:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T07:17:26","slug":"esteem-difficult-improper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/esteem-difficult-improper\/","title":{"rendered":"ATC \u2014 Feats difficult but improper"},"content":{"rendered":"<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 19.76%; text-align: center;\">\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">ATC<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 80.24%; text-align: center;\">\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">\u201cThe gentleman does not esteem feats<br \/>\nthat are difficult but improper\u00a0\u00bb<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>In matters of conduct, the gentleman does not esteem feats that are difficult but improper. In matters of argument, he does not esteem improper inquiries. In matters of reputation, he does not esteem improper fame. Only what is proper does he esteem. To cast oneself into a river while clutching a heavy stone is a difficult thing to do, but Shentu Di could do it.<sup>1 <\/sup>However, the gentleman does not esteem such conduct because it does not accord with ritual and yi.<br \/>\nClaims such as \u201cMountains and valley are level\u201d, Heaven and Earth lie even\u201d, \u201cQi and Qin are adjacent\u201d, \u201cIt enters the ear and comes out the mouth\u201d, \u201cWomen have whiskers\u201d, \u201cEggs have feathers\u201d \u2014 These are difficult arguments to propound, but Hui Shi and Deng Xi could do it. However, the gentleman does not esteem such arguments, because they do not accord with ritual and <em>yi<\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>Robber Xhi was terrifying enough to make people stutter, but his reputation is widely known like the sun and moon and is ceaselessly handed down together with that of the Sages Shun and Yu.<sup>3<\/sup> However, the gentleman does not esteem such reputation because it does not accord with ritual and <em>yi<\/em>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>And so, I say: In matters of conduct, the gentleman does not esteem feats that are difficult but improper. In matters of argument, he does not esteem improper inquiries. In matters of reputation, he does not esteem improper fame. Only what is proper does he esteem. The <em>Odes<\/em> say; <\/strong><\/span><em><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>He does have many a good thing,\/\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong><em>But only with the right timing.<\/em><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>This expresses my meaning.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>Xunxi<sub>HUTTON<\/sub>, chapter 3, <em>Nothing improper<\/em>, p. 16<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ATC \u201cThe gentleman does not esteem feats that are difficult but improper\u00a0\u00bb In matters of conduct, the gentleman does not esteem feats that are difficult but improper. In matters of argument, he does not esteem improper inquiries. In matters of reputation, he does not esteem improper fame. Only what is proper does he esteem. To [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15263"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15283,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15263\/revisions\/15283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}