Constancy - Confucian Pages

Other Translations:

The Master said, “The Southerners have a saying, ‘The fate of a person who lacks constancy cannot be diagnosed by the shaman-healers.’ How well put!”

[It is also said,] “One inconstant in Virtue will probably incur disgrace.” The Master commented, “It simply cannot be foretold through divination.”

Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

The Master said, Southerners have a saying: If a person lacks constancy, he cannot become a shaman or a doctor. Well put, is it not? Someone not constant in virtue is likely to suffer disgrace.

And the Master said, No need to consult a diviner to know that much!

Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.

Analects 7.26

Leave a Comment / Analects, Analects - Book Seven

Original Text:

子曰圣人吾不得而见之矣得见君子者斯可矣子曰善人吾不得而见之矣得见有恒者斯可矣亡而为有虚而为盈约而为泰难乎有恒乎

Translation:

Other Translations:

The Master said, “A sage I will never get to meet; if I manage to meet a gentleman, I suppose I would be content. An excellent person I will never get to meet; if I manage to meet someone with constancy, I suppose I would be content. [Yet all I see around me is] nothing masquerading as something, emptiness masquerading as substance, limitation masquerading as grandness. I think even constancy will be hard to find.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

The Master said, A sage I have never managed to see. If I could see a true gentleman, that would be enough.
The Master said, A truly good person I have never managed to see. If I could see a person of constancy, that would be enough. With nothingness pretending to possession, emptiness pretending to fullness, want pretending to affluence, true constancy is hard to find.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.