Kingdoms can be governed, titles declined, swords walked over barefoot — and the Mean is still harder than any of these. The line is a jolt, because we tend to think the hard thing about being good is the dramatic sacrifice. Confucius puts the dramatic sacrifices first and then says the real work is steadier and less visible. The Bhagavad Gita reaches the same paradox in 6.6 — the self can be your closest friend or your worst enemy, and the difference is whether you can hold equanimity across ordinary days, not whether you can summon courage for one heroic afternoon.Bhagavad Gita 6.5–6 on the self-as-friend-or-enemy. Eknath Easwaran's commentary develops the "steady over heroic" reading.