Analects 1:12

Yu Tzu said, “Among the functions of propriety (li) the most valuable is that it establishes harmony.  The excellence of the ways of ancient kings consists of this.  It is the guiding principle of all things great and small.  If things go amiss, and you, understanding harmony, try to achieve it without regulating it by the rules of propriety, they will still go amiss.  [Analects 1:12]

In this particular day, I would try to interpret the analects 1:12 from the topic "Li as the Cardinal Virtue".

In the said analects, it is said that doing what is proper is the principle in which its most important function is bringing harmony in the society. Harmony, in a sense, that it unites the people towards one goal. Confucius is telling that a person, in order to be a fully superior man, must act according to what is proper. It must be something in accordance to what the society perceives to be proper. If the man acts according to it, there will be no chaos among men. This principle is what the kings have. The king governs his people in a way that it pleases them. Therefore, the king adopts to the ways of his people but the adopting doesn't mean that the king is always adjusting to the ways of his people. He still knows that he is superior to them. What the king was adopting to is in the way of mingling with them to gain respects from them. When a king seats on the throne, he doesn't change everything all at once in order to satisfy himself. His main goal is to cater all the needs of his people and protect them against harm. In order for this to be achieved, the king must adjust to their ways and settle with it to know what they need. It is somehow lowering down to reach out to his people. The king's adjusting is done through respecting their ways of living just as long as it doesn't violate any moral law. Another thing that Confucius is telling is that if one has a good intention, then the ways in which he will accomplish it must not violate the moral law. That his way must be something proper. If one has a good intention yet uses force (violence), then the intention becomes useless. All of his efforts will all be good as nothing.

Overall, Confucius is saying that a man must, in all his actions, act according to what is proper to establish harmony among men. Harmony and propriety goes together. Man doesn't act to what is proper without bringing harmony and achieving harmony without doing what is proper is useless. They always go together and if in case one of them is not observed, then it would create chaos among men that may mislead them in journey of the Way.