Confucian Analects Book VII Part 1 (孔夫子論語: 述而第七 第一部份)

Author: Confucius (孔夫子); translated by James Legge

The Master said, Eating coarse rice and drinking water, with bent arm for pillow, we may be merry; but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.

1. 子曰：「述而不作，信而好古，竊比於我老彭。」

The Master said, A teller and not a maker, one that trusts and loves the past; I might liken myself to our old P'eng.

2. 子曰：「默而識之，學而不厭，誨人不倦，何有於我哉？」

The Master said, To think things over in silence, to learn and be always hungry, to teach and never weary; is any of these mine?

3. 子曰：「德之不修，學之不講，聞義不能徒，不善不能改，是吾憂也。」

The Master said, Not making the most of my mind, want of thoroughness in learning, failure to do the right when told it, lack of strength to overcome faults; these are my sorrows.

4. 子之燕居，申申如也，夭夭如也。」

In his free moments the Master was easy and cheerful.

5. 子曰：「甚矣吾衰也！久矣吾不復夢見周公！」

The Master said, How deep is my decay! It is long since I saw the Duke of Chou in a dream.

6. 子曰：「志於道，據於德，依於仁，游於藝。」

The Master said, Keep thy will on the Way, lean on mind, rest in love, move in art.

7. 子曰：「自行束修以上，吾未嘗無誨焉。」

The Master said, From the man that paid in dried meat upwards, I have withheld teaching from no one.

8. 子曰：「不憤不啟，不悱不發。舉一隅不以三隅反，則不復也。」

The Master said, Only to those fumbling do I open, only for those stammering do I find the word.
If I lift one corner and the other three are left unturned, I say no more.

9. 子食於有喪者之側，未嘗飽也。子於是日哭，則不歌。

When eating beside a mourner the Master never ate his fill. On days when he had been wailing, he did not sing.

10. 子謂顏淵曰：「用之則行，舍之則藏，惟我與爾有是夫。」子路曰：「子行三軍，則 誰與？」子曰：「暴虎馮河，死而不悔者，吾不與也。必也臨事而懼，好謀而成者也。」

The Master said to Yen Yüan, To go forward when in office and lie quiet when not; only I and thou can do that.
Tzu-lu said, If ye had to lead three armies, Sir, whom would ye have with you?
No man, said the Master, that would face a tiger bare-fisted, or plunge into a river and die without a qualm; but one, indeed, who, fearing what may come, lays his plans well and carries them through.

11. 子曰：「富而可求也，雖執鞭之士，吾亦為之。如不可求，從吾所好。」

The Master said, If shouldering a whip were a sure road to riches I should turn carter; but since there is no sure road, I tread the path I love.

12. 子之所慎：齊，戰，疾。

The Master gave heed to abstinence, war and sickness.

13. 子在齊聞韶，三月不知肉味，曰：「不圖為樂之至於斯也。」

When he was in Ch'i, for three months after hearing the Shao played, the Master knew not the taste of flesh.
I did not suppose, he said, that music could reach such heights.

14. 冉有曰：「夫子為衛君乎？」子貢曰：「諾，吾將問之。」入曰：「伯夷、叔齊何人 也？」曰：「古之賢人也。」曰：「怨乎？」曰：「求仁而得仁，又何怨？」出曰：「夫子不為也。」

Jan Yu said, Is the Master for the lord of Wei?
I shall ask him, said Tzu-kung.
He went in, and said, What kind of men were Po-yi and Shu-ch'i?
Worthy men of yore, said the Master.
Did they rue the past?
They sought love and found it; what had they to rue?
Tzu-kung went out, and said, The Master is not for him.

15. 子曰：「飯疏食，飲水，曲肱而枕之，樂亦在其中矣。不義而富且貴，於我如浮雲。 」

The Master said, Eating coarse rice and drinking water, with bent arm for pillow, we may be merry; but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.

16. 子曰：「加我數年，五十以學易，可以無大過矣。」

The Master said, Given a few more years, making fifty for learning the Yi, I might be freed from gross faults.

17. 子所雅言，詩、書、執禮，皆雅言也。

The Master liked to talk of poetry, history, and the upkeep of courtesy. Of all these he liked to talk.

18. 葉公問孔子於子路，子路不對。子曰：「女奚不曰，其為人也，發憤忘食，樂以忘 憂，不知老之將至云爾。」

The Duke of She asked Tzu-lu about Confucius.
Tzu-lu did not answer.
The Master said, Why didst thou not say, He is a man that forgets to eat in his eagerness, whose sorrows are forgotten in gladness, who knows not that age draws near?

19. 子曰：「我非生而知之者，好古，敏以求之者也。」

The Master said, I was not born to wisdom: I loved the past, and sought it earnestly there.

20. 子不語怪力亂神。

The Master never talked of goblins, strength, disorder, or spirits.