Once, Zilu heard Confucius praising Yanhui, and felt a little indignant. So, he asked Confucius, “Teacher, if you were to go to war, who would you take with you? ” 

Zilu wanted to say that he was brave, and so, when going to war, Confucius should pick him instead of Yanhui. 

Confucius looked at Zilu and replied with a smile, “I wouldn't take someone who tries to fight a tiger with his bare hands,  or tries to use only his feet to cross the river, and doesn’t self-reflect even in the face of death. ” 

What Confucius meant to tell Zilu was that bravery alone is not enough when doing things. When faced with a problem, it is better to use your brains to think of  what to do first. Otherwise, one might either fail to catch the tiger or cross the river, or end up being bitten by the tiger or drowning in the river.

有一次，孔子誇獎顏回，子路在旁邊聽到了，覺得很不服氣，他就問孔子：「老師，如果您要去打仗，您要誰跟您一起去呢？」

子路的意思是表示自己很勇敢，說到打仗，孔子怎麼可能只想到顏回，而不會想到他呢？

孔子看了看子路，笑著回答：「這種空手打老虎，只靠雙腳走過河，到死都不會覺得後悔的人，我才不會叫他一起去打仗呢。」

孔子的話，就是告訴子路，一個人不能只靠勇敢做事情，碰到問題時，還是要用腦筋想一想，該怎麼做會比較好。否則不是抓不到老虎、過不了河，就是會被老虎咬死或掉進河裡淹死。