Confucian Analects · Analects 4.13
The Master said, 'Is a prince is able to govern his kingdom with the complaisance proper to the rules of propriety, what difficulty will he have? If he cannot govern it with that complaisance, what has he to do with the rules of propriety?'
Chinese · source text【十三章】子曰、能以禮讓為國乎、何有、不能以禮讓為國、如禮何。
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Confucius · English translation by James Legge · bilingual transcription
James Legge, The Chinese Classics, Volume 1: Confucian Analects · Project Gutenberg #4094
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