Willful ignorance…

子曰。「愚而好自用、賤而好自專、生乎今之世、反古之道。如此者、災及其身者也。」非天子、不議禮、不制度、不考文。今天下車同軌、書同文、行同倫。雖有其位、茍無其德、不敢作禮樂焉。雖有其德、茍無其位、亦不敢作禮樂焉。

Confucius said: “To be ignorant and like to act as you will; to be of low rank and ignore all the rules; to be living in the present and be following the norms of the past: all these will bring you trouble.”

If you are not the emperor, you cannot determine the rules of propriety, set weights and measures, or create ideographs. In the present realm, carriages have the same axle-widths, documents are written with the same characters and people follow the same norms of conduct.

But even if you are emperor, if you lack virtue, you cannot presume to create ritual or music. And even if you possess sufficient virtue, but you are not in the position of emperor, you cannot presume to create ritual or music.

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean 中庸: Commentary 28