Book 14: 《憲問》 Xian Wen (Xian Asked)
《憲問》 Passage 14.27
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 Master; honorific title for 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
- 恥 chǐ
ashamed, feel shame at
Legge renders this as 'modest' rather than 'ashamed', softening the sense but pointing at the same reticence-about-excess.
- 其 qí
possessive pronoun: his, their
- 言 yán
words, speech
- 而 ér
contrastive conjunction: but, yet
Two construals: 朱熹 reads two predicates, 'is modest in speech but goes beyond in action' (恥者，不敢盡之意；過者，欲有餘之辭), followed by Legge and Roberts; 楊伯峻 and the other six take 而 as subordinating, 'is ashamed that his words exceed his deeds'.
- 過 guò
to exceed, surpass, outstrip
- 其 qí
possessive pronoun: his, their
- 行 xíng
actions, deeds, conduct
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