I am having trouble understanding this Confucianism quote.?

The Master said: ?Without ritual, courtesy is tiresome; without ritual,
prudence is timid; without ritual, bravery is quarrelsome; without ritual,
frankness is hurtful.

I don't exactly know what this means. All I can get from it is that we must act with purpose to have an orderly society but I don't understand how ritual changes these qualities. Please give me some insight? Thank you

Think of the social order in Japan, a society that places a high value on ritual:

Frankness is hurtful and causes embarrassment, thus Japanese society creates a "ritual" of never saying "No" directly to ones face.

Courtesy is tiresome, thus Japanese society creates the "ritual" of the tea ceremony, a ceremony of beauty and grace.

Prudence may be misinterpreted as timidity, thus Japanese society creates the "ritual" of consensus decision-making. The process of building consensus may seem too slow to Western eyes, however once consensus is reached, the organization proceeds with unwavering determination -- for example, beginning in 1970, the decision to capture the U.S. car market.

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Ritual, in the case of these quotes, is like a proper way of doing things and doing it repetitively. For instance. Doing courtesy the incorrect way leads one to be tired. Or, without the proper actions being frank may be hurtful. For example, if you hate someones new haircut there is a right and wrong way to go about being frank with them about it, and ritual is the training needed to know how to do it the right way, according to Confucian philosophy.

G
Ritual is procedure that has been found effective in specific situations. When you use ritual intelligently, it frees your mind from having to make behavioral decisions each time.
The danger is that ritual becomes thought and then the law of the universe. This effect can be avoided.

I will give you a simple example of Confucianism .
Everyone in this world, no matter what he does, is a good person.Even a bad person would barely be afraid of a small child trapped in a house full of fire.