Qualities of the superior man

The central idea of Confucius is that every normal human being aspires to become superior to his fellows, if possible, but surely superior to his own past and present self. This hints at perfection as a goal; and it is said that one of the subjects which the Master rarely spoke, was ‘perfect virtue’.

In various sayings Confucius presents the attributes of the superior man, whom the sage adjures his disciples to admire without ceasing, to emulate without turning, and to imitate without let or hindrance.

These include:

Purpose: The superior man learns in order to attain to the utmost of his principles.
Poise: The superior man in his thought does not go out of his place. 
Self-sufficiency: What the superior man seeks, is in himself; what the ordinary man seeks, is in others. 
Earnestness: The superior man in everything puts forth his utmost endeavours. 
Thoroughness: The superior man bends his attention to what is radical.
Sincerity: The superior man must make his thoughts sincere.
Truthfulness: What the superior man requires is that in what he says there may be nothing inaccurate.
Purity of thought and action: The superior man must be watchful over himself when alone. 
Love of truth:  The object of the superior man is truth. 
Rectitude:  The superior man thinks of virtue; the ordinary man thinks of comfort. 
Prudence: The superior man wishes to be slow in his words and earnest in his conduct. 
Fearlessness: The superior man has no fear. 
Ease and dignity:  The superior man has dignified ease without pride; the ordinary man has pride without dignified ease.
Firmness:  Refusing to surrender his will the superior man is correctly firm and not merely firm. 
Growth:  The progress of the superior man is upward, the progress of the ordinary man is downward. The superior man is distressed by his want of ability.
Openness:  The superior man has his faults and all men see them. He changes them and all men look up to him. 
Benevolence:  The superior man seeks to develop the admirable qualities of men. The ordinary man does the opposite of this. 
Broadmindedness:  The superior man does not promote a man on account of his words, nor does he put aside good words on account of the man. 
Charity: To be able to judge others by what is in ourselves, this may be called the art of virtue. 

The Ethics of Confucius