Refined in manner and substance, then a gentleman.

This passage is from "The Analects, Yong Ye Chapter Six": "The Master said, 'When substance overcomes refinement, one becomes rustic; when refinement overcomes substance, one becomes pedantic. Only when refinement and substance are properly balanced does one become a Junzi (Exemplary Person).'" By literal meaning, wen (refinement) refers to literary grace, zhi (substance) refers to plainness, and binbin describes a balanced mixture. Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in his "Collected Commentaries on The Analects": "This means that scholars should reduce excess and supplement deficiency, and when they achieve virtue, it will naturally come without expectation." Liu Baonan of the Qing Dynasty wrote in "The Correct Meaning of The Analects": "Li (Propriety) has both substance and refinement. Substance is the foundation; without foundation, Li cannot stand, without refinement, it cannot be practiced; being able to both stand and practice is called the mean." Confucius's "wen" here refers to external expressions that conform to Li (Propriety), while "zhi" refers to inner Ren (Benevolence). Only by possessing the inner quality of Ren and simultaneously expressing it in accordance with Li can one become a Junzi. The relationship between wen and zhi is thus the relationship between Li and Ren. This reflects, on one hand, Confucius's ideal personality of the Junzi, and on the other, his consistent Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean) thought, which advocates neither partiality toward wen nor toward zhi, but rather impartial balance—a task that is not easy. "The Master said, 'The substance of the Yu and Xia dynasties and the refinement of the Yin and Zhou dynasties reached their utmost. The refinement of Yu and Xia could not match their substance; the substance of Yin and Zhou could not match their refinement; achieving balance between refinement and substance—how could this be easy to speak of?'" (From the "Book of Rites, Biao Ji")

Refined in manner and substance, then a gentleman.