Analects 9.22: 子罕 (Zi Han)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 9 presents the Master through questions about his learning, skills, character, and place in the cultural tradition. His own accounts of ordinary work and unfinished attainment stand beside his students’ admiration. Ritual decisions distinguish useful change from arrogant display, while the jade exchange joins willingness to serve with waiting for someone who recognizes worth. Images of flowing water, earthworks, growing plants, and winter trees give passing time, effort, and tested character concrete form. Praise of learners sits beside regret and warnings about unfinished growth. The later sayings ask for correction, resolve, and the ability to weigh circumstances after learning to stand firm.
Analects 9.22
子曰、後生可畏、焉知來者之不如今也、四十五十而無聞焉、斯亦不足畏也已。
The Master said, “The young deserve to be regarded with awe. How do we know that their future will not match our present? But if someone reaches forty or fifty without being heard of, they are no longer worthy of that awe.”
Commentary
philology Awe for an unfinished future 畏 carries the force of awe or apprehensive respect. The future capacity of the young is still open, so present standing cannot settle the comparison. The second sentence is severe: at forty or fifty, having made no name removes this reason for awe. The praise of potential is followed by a demand for it to become visible.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium