quote · Words worth keeping
1. The Master said, 'When a man's knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again. 2. 'When his knowledge is sufficient to attain, and he has virtue enough to hold fast, if he cannot govern with dignity, the people will not respect him. 3. 'When his knowledge is sufficient to attain, and he has virtue enough to hold fast; when he governs also with dignity, yet if he try to move the people contrary to the rules of propriety:— full excellence is not reached.'
1. The Master said, 'When a man's knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again. 2. 'When his knowledge is sufficient to attain, and he has virtue enough to hold fast, if he cannot govern with dignity, the people will not respect him. 3. 'When his knowledge is sufficient to attain, and he has virtue enough to hold fast; when he governs also with dignity, yet if he try to move the people contrary to the rules of propriety:— full excellence is not reached.'
Approximate author period: c. 515 BC · ancient
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Confucius (traditional attribution)
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 515 BC · ancient
traditional author lifetime midpoint (551–479 BCE), Stanford Encyclopedia; not quotation composition date
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- The Analects of Confucius (James Legge English translation)
Book XV, complete printed chapter XXXII; James Legge translation; Undated digitized James Legge English edition; printed publication year/publisher not supplied in this cached text
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
The voice behind the words.
The Analects transmit collected sayings and representations of Master Kong, rather than an independently authenticated author manuscript. Traditional lifetime551–479BCE follows Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; the Gutenberg catalogue uses552–480BCE. Only complete Master-speech chapters are represented here; other speakers and dialogue remain held.
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