Book 13: 《子路》 Zi Lu
《子路》 Passage 13.25
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "The superior man is easy to serve and difficult to please. If you try to please him in any way which is not accordant with right, he will not be pleased. But in his employment of men, he uses them according to their capacity. The mean man is difficult to serve, and easy to please. If you try to please him, though it be in a way which is not accordant with right, he may be pleased. But in his employment of men, he wishes them to be equal to everything."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 Master, teacher (referring to Confucius)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 君子 jūn zǐ
exemplary person, gentleman
- 君 lord, ruler; 君子 is literally a lord's son
- 子 son; 君子 is literally a lord's son, one of the ruling class, which the Analects makes a term of character
- 易 yì
easy
- 事 shì
to serve
- 而 ér
contrastive conjunction: but, yet
- 難 nán
difficult, hard
- 說 yuè
to please, gain the favor of
說 is a loangraph for 悅 (yuè), 'pleased', not its ordinary sense 'to speak'
- 也 yě
particle marking the end of a topic clause, pausing before elaboration
- 說 yuè
to please, gain the favor of
loangraph for 悅 (yuè), 'pleased'
- 之 zhī
object pronoun: him, them
- 不 bù
not
- 以 yǐ
by means of, according to
- 道 dào
the Way, proper moral principle
- 不 bù
not
- 說 yuè
pleased, delighted
loangraph for 悅 (yuè)
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion
- 及 jí
when it comes to, as regards
- 其 qí
his, their
- 使人 shǐ rén
to employ people, deploy others in tasks
- 使 to employ, send on tasks
- 人 people, others
- 也 yě
particle marking a pause after an adverbial clause
- 器之 qì zhī
to assess and employ according to capacity, lit. treat as a vessel
- 器 to treat as a vessel, assess and employ according to capacity
- 之 them (object pronoun)
- 小人 xiǎo rén
petty person, small-minded person
- 小 small, petty
- 人 person
- 難 nán
difficult, hard
- 事 shì
to serve
- 而 ér
contrastive conjunction: but, yet
- 易 yì
easy
- 說 yuè
to please, gain the favor of
loangraph for 悅 (yuè), 'pleased'
- 也 yě
particle marking the end of a topic clause, pausing before elaboration
- 說 yuè
to please, gain the favor of
loangraph for 悅 (yuè), 'pleased'
- 之 zhī
object pronoun: him, them
- 雖 suī
although, even if
- 不 bù
not
- 以 yǐ
by means of, according to
- 道 dào
the Way, proper moral principle
- 說 yuè
pleased, delighted
loangraph for 悅 (yuè)
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion
- 及 jí
when it comes to, as regards
- 其 qí
his, their
- 使人 shǐ rén
to employ people, deploy others in tasks
- 使 to employ, send on tasks
- 人 people, others
- 也 yě
particle marking a pause after an adverbial clause
- 求備焉 qiú bèi yān
to demand perfection, expect completeness from them
- 求 to demand, seek
- 備 completeness, being fully equipped
- 焉 fused pronoun-particle: from them, in this matter
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