Lunyu (Analects) 1.7-1.9

All classes were stopped for 1+15 days for the Lunar new year celebration. This is the first class of the new Lunar year.

[1.7]
子夏曰：「賢賢易色。
事父母，能竭其力；
事君，能致其身；
與朋友交，言而有信。
雖曰未學，吾必謂之學矣。」

Zi Xia said: "Contrived worthiness easily changes color.
In serving father and mother, able to exhaust one's effort;
in serving lord, able to devote one's whole body;
in dealings with friends, speak and be trustworthy;
Though spoken off as not learned, I considered him as learned."

[1.8]
子曰：「君子不重，則不威；學則不固。
主忠信，無友不如己者。
過，則勿憚改。」

Confucius said: "A junzi lacking gravity is not awe-inspiring, learning will not be solid.
Self be loyal and trustworthy, no friends not equals to self.
If gone over dont be afraid to change."

[1.9]
曾子曰：「慎終追遠，民德歸厚矣。」

Zeng Zi said: "Attentive completion (of an action) spreads far, people's virtue restored to abundance."

Notes

[1.7] Zi Xia was not in full agreement with Confucius' previous statement (1.6) regarding importance learning. As was the norm, he started with a short phrase to give an overview of his idea - that worthiness gained by mere learning is not steady. He said that it's most important to do one's utmost to serve parents and superior and be true to friends. One who's able to do this he considered as learned.

[1.8] People can outwardly perform all duties to parents and superior and yet be lacking in something very important. That important quality Confucius termed as "gravity" which carries the meaning of being serious, earnest and attentive. Without this quality all our actions lose their ability to inspire others. One of the cornerstones of Confucius' teaching is to rectify ourself and then let our attitude and conduct influence the people we come in contact with. If we perform our duties with sufficient gravity, we can create a ripple effect that move the whole society.

The next sentence can be interpreted in two ways. The first is: we should never befriend those who's moral caliber is not equal to ours. The other meaning is that if we're virtuous and capable of acting with gravity, then all our friends will be inspired to follow our example (hence be our equal). The last statement which seems like a cliche could be a subtle hint to Zi Xia to amend his wrong ideas.

[1.9] Zeng Zi who's been listening understood what Confucius meant. To show that he's digested the points well, he rephrased them in a terse sentence which speak of the ripple effect of attentive actions and its ultimate benefit to society. This enigmatic stanza of Zeng Zi has been interpreted in many ways; the following is by Legge:

Let there be a careful attention to perform the funeral rites to parents, and let them be followed when long gone with the ceremonies of sacrifice; then the virtue of the people will resume its proper excellence.