Grain will never be ground too finely, and fish and meat will never be cut too finely.

From The Analects of Confucius and the Rural Party.

The original text is as follows:

Never tire of food, never tire of food. If you eat glutinous rice, the fish will have no meat, so you won't eat it. Evil color, no food. Smelly, do not eat. No food, no food. Don't eat from time to time, cut wrong, don't eat. No sauce, no food. Although there is a lot of meat, there is nothing better than eating. There is no limit to wine, and it is not chaotic. It sells aged wine, not food. Don't eat ginger, don't eat more.

Translation:

Grain will never be ground too finely, and fish and meat will never be cut too finely. The food is old and stale, and the fish and meat are rotten, so we don't eat it. The color of the food has changed, so don't eat it. The taste has changed. Stop eating. Improper cooking, do not eat. Don't eat new things from time to time. Don't eat the meat if it isn't cut properly. Don't eat the wrong seasoning. Although there is a lot of meat on the table, the amount eaten does not exceed the amount of rice and flour. You can drink as much as you want, but you're not drunk. Dried meat and wine bought from the market are not eaten. There must be ginger at every meal, but don't eat too much.

Extended data:

The Ideological Content of The Analects of Confucius

The Analects of Confucius is a Confucian classic and a collection of recorded essays focusing on memorizing words. As early as the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, when Confucius set up an altar to give lectures, its main contents were initially established; After the death of Confucius, his disciples and re-disciples passed on his remarks from generation to generation, and gradually recorded the words and deeds of these oral quotations, so it was called "On";

The Analects of Confucius mainly records the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples, so it is called "language". The Analects of Confucius, as a Confucian classic, is profound and all-encompassing, and its thoughts mainly include three independent and closely dependent categories: ethics and morality category-benevolence, social and political category-courtesy, cognitive methodology category-the mean.

Benevolence, first of all, is the true state in people's hearts. The final compromise must be kindness, and this true and kind state is "benevolence". Confucius established the category of benevolence, and then expounded that courtesy is a reasonable social relationship and a norm to treat people and things, and then expounded the methodological principle of the "golden mean" system.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia —— "The Analects of Confucius, the Rural Party"