Stories from Ancient China: Gentlemen Are Hard to Please

Confucius said, "Gentlemen are easy to serve, but hard to please. In order to please a gentleman, you must act according to the principles, or he will be unhappy. A gentleman will think highly of your talents and give you an opportunity to use them. Villains are difficult to serve and easy to please. You do not need to behave according to the principles as long as you do exactly what you are told.

"A gentleman will cultivate his heart in accordance with moral standards. He is rational and will restrain his feelings and desires and therefore his actions will match his words. When you serve a gentleman, you will find out that he will respect your knowledge and talents and not emphasize your personal relationship with him. If you want to please a gentleman, you have to know his ambition and the principles he follows, therefore it is not easy.

"On the contrary, it is easy to please a villain because he stresses personal relationships, likes and dislikes, instead of upright principles or high ambition. However, a villain rarely thinks of others first and his character is not stable, so it is harder to serve him."