The Shame of a Scholar-Official: “Thinking Only of Salary Whether the State Has the Way or Not”

Confucius said: “To care only for one’s salary, in good times and bad, is shameful.”

When good government prevails in a state, to be thinking only of salary; and, when bad government prevails, to be thinking, in the same way, only of salary – this is shameful.

邦有道,谷;邦无道,谷,耻也。

Source: The Analects, Xian Wen XIV, Chapter 1

Author: Confucius

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