Book 2: 《為政》 Wei Zheng (Governance)
《為政》 Passage 2.11
子曰：「溫故而知新，可以為師矣。」
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "If a man keeps cherishing his old knowledge, so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of others."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific title: the Master (Confucius)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 溫故 wēn gù
to review and keep fresh what one has already learned
- 溫 to review, warm up, keep alive (learning already acquired)
- 故 the old, what one already knows
source of the chengyu 溫故知新, review the old to know the new
- 而 ér
conjunctive particle: and
links review of the old to arriving at the new as cause/means to result
- 知新 zhī xīn
to know, realize the new
- 知 to know, understand, realize
- 新 the new, new knowledge, new insight
- 可以…矣 kě yǐ … yǐ
can, is qualified to, is fit to (settled, matter-of-fact judgment)
- 可 can, may, to be able to
- 以 by means of, thereby, in order to
- 矣 sentence-final particle marking assertion, completion
矣 seals 可以 as a closed, matter-of-fact conclusion rather than an open possibility
- 為師 wéi shī
to be a teacher, act as a teacher
- 為 to be, act as, serve as
- 師 teacher, master
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