Analects 5.4: 公冶長 (Gongye Chang)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 5 tests judgments of people against their conduct. The Master praises particular abilities and virtues while repeatedly withholding the larger judgment of humaneness. Marriage choices, public service, friendship, speech, and learning supply different kinds of evidence. Several exchanges expose a distance between what someone says or wants and what they can do; Zai Yu’s conduct even changes the Master’s way of judging. Near the end, the teacher and his companions state their own aspirations. The closing sayings turn assessment inward, toward recognizing faults and continuing to love learning.
Analects 5.4
或曰、雍也仁、而不佞。子曰、焉用佞、禦人以口給、屢憎於人、不知其仁、焉用佞。
Someone said, “Yong is humane, but he is not a clever speaker.” The Master said, “What use is a clever tongue? If you fend people off with quick replies, they often come to resent you. I do not know whether he is humane. What use is a clever tongue?”
Commentary
ethics Quick replies and humaneness An unnamed speaker treats Yong’s lack of verbal cleverness as a limitation. The Master challenges that measure: quick replies can make encounters combative and breed resentment. His repeated question rejects clever speech as a requirement, while “I do not know” withholds the separate judgment about Yong’s humaneness.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high