Analects of Confucius

Confucius narrates the actions of Kung-tze as a way of providing an example of an individual who has cultivated the desired behaviors that bind the individual and society together and produce a just and orderly body politic: 

In the dynastic temple, or court, speaking with easy pertinence; answering with prompt respect (59). 

When there was a lot of meat he would not take more than what properly went with the rice [...] Did not talk while eating nor in bed [...] Although but coarse rice or vegetable broth he would offer decorously a gourd in sacrifice (61).

When a friend died with no one to return [the body to its home for burial] he said: I will see to the funeral (62). 

Through this brief narration of the life and actions of Kung-tze, Confucius provides an image of the moral character of the one who possesses manhood: acting always out of respect for one’s friends and for cultural traditions (i.e., assuming the duties of carrying out a friend’s funeral and respectfully inhabiting temples and courts) and always in accord with what is appropriate for each setting, and never desiring more than what is required (i.e., never taking more meat than what is appropriate to the portion of rice he is allotted).