Analects 1.14: 學而 (Xue Er)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 1 presents learning as a way of acting with others: practicing what one learns, serving parents, keeping faith with friends, governing with care, and accepting correction. Its voices return to the relation between inward character and outward conduct. Devotion to parents and respect for elder brothers are called the root of practicing humaneness; ritual gives harmony its measure. The dialogue about poverty, wealth, and poetry shows a learner carrying a lesson further. The book begins with bearing a lack of recognition and ends by asking whether we know other people.
Analects 1.14
子曰、君子食無求飽、居無求安、敏於事、而慎於言、就有道、而正焉、可謂好學也已。
The Master said, “An exemplary person does not seek a full belly or a comfortable home. They are diligent in their work and cautious in what they say. They seek out those who follow the Way and let themselves be corrected. Such a person can be said to love learning.”
Commentary
ethics Learning includes correction The exemplary person’s appetite and comfort are not the objects of pursuit. The positive demands follow: diligent action, careful speech, and seeking correction from someone with the Way. Learning requires exposing one’s conduct to correction, which also develops the final instruction of 1.8.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high