Saturday, September 27, 2008

Substance and Refinement

"When substance overbalances refinement, crudeness results. When refinement overbalances substance, there is superficiality. When refinement and substance are balanced one has Great Man." -- Confucius.

No one has ever accused me of superficiality. Crudeness, yes. That is perhaps why I have tried so hard to become a good poet, a true poet, so that my speech and writing may become refined.

Plato too believed what Confucius said. That is why he sought to create a philosophical rhetoric -- as the former element was substantive, and the latter element refinement. True wisdom repeats itself across cultures.

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