Substance

Analects 15.18

Leave a Comment / Analects, Analects - Book Fifteen

Original Text:

子曰君子义以为质礼以行之孙以出之信以成之君子哉

Translation:

Other Translations:

The Master said, “The gentleman takes rightness as his substance, puts it into practice by means of ritual, gives it expression through modesty, and perfects it by being trustworthy. Now that is a gentleman!”

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

The Master said, The gentleman makes rightness the substance, practices it through ritual, displays it with humility, brings it to completion with trustworthiness. That’s the gentleman.

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.