From the Analects, 17.6:

好仁不好學、其蔽也愚。

好知不好學、其蔽也蕩。

好信不好學、其蔽也賊。

好直不好學、其蔽也絞。

好勇不好學、其蔽也亂。

好剛不好學、其蔽也狂。

Confucius once asked Zhòng Yóu (仲由) if he had heard of  “the six words and the six distortions”. Yóu said he had not. The Master then explained as follows:

The “six words” (六言) are: 仁 (kindness), 知 (wisdom), 信 (reliability), 直 (honesty), 勇 (courage), and 剛 (steadfastness).

The “six distortions” (六蔽) are: 愚 (sentimentality), 蕩 (dilettantism), 賊 (restriction), 絞 (rudeness), 亂 (disruptiveness), 狂 (arrogance).

In each case, if one only “loves” (好) the “word” (言), but one does “not love” (不好) “learning” (學), then “it” (其) becomes “distorted” (蔽) into something else. That is, courage without learning is distorted into disruptiveness, or steadfastness without learning is distorted into arrogance, for examples.

So, what is this “learning”? It sounds rather important, doesn’t it?