Book 13: 《子路》 Zi Lu
《子路》 Passage 13.13
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "If a minister make his own conduct correct, what difficulty will he have in assisting in government? If he cannot rectify himself, what has he to do with rectifying others?"Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 Master, honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 苟 gǒu
if, if only (conditional)
- 正 zhèng
to correct, rectify, make upright
- 其 qí
his, his own (possessive)
- 身 shēn
oneself, one's person
some translators render this as 'conduct' or 'character' rather than 'self'
- 矣 yǐ
final particle marking completion of the conditional clause
- 於 yú
coverb marking sphere: in, with regard to
- 從政 cóng zhèng
to engage in government, hold office
- 從 to engage in, take part in
- 政 government, governmental affairs
- 乎 hū
pause particle marking a topicalized phrase
- 何有 hé yǒu
what difficulty is there in it, what would there be to it
- 何 what (interrogative pronoun)
- 有 to exist, there is
- 不能 bù néng
cannot, not able to
- 不 not (negates the following verb)
- 能 to be able to, can
- 正 zhèng
to correct, rectify, make upright
- 其 qí
his, his own (possessive)
- 身 shēn
oneself, one's person
some translators render this as 'conduct' or 'character' rather than 'self'
- 如…何 rú … hé
how can..., what is to be done about...
- 如 how, in what way, used to ask what is to be done
- 何 what, used to ask what is to be done
- 正人 zhèng rén
to correct, rectify other people
- 正 to correct, rectify, make upright
- 人 other people, others
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