Book 2: 《為政》 Wei Zheng (Governance)
《為政》 Passage 2.14
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "The superior man is catholic and no partisan. The mean man is partisan and not catholic."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 Master, honorific title (here, Confucius)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 君子 jūn zǐ
exemplary person, gentleman, superior man
- 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
- 周 zhōu
broadly inclusive, loyal to all without partiality
Translators split between reading 周 as social breadth/inclusiveness (Legge, Slingerland, Peimin Ni, Roberts, Lau, Ames & Rosemont) and moral impartiality/fair-mindedness (Watson, Chin).
- 而 ér
contrastive conjunction: but, yet
- 不 bù
negation: not
- 比 bì
partisan, showing bias toward a narrow faction
Contrasted with 周; denotes exclusive loyalty to a narrow faction rather than universal fairness.
- 小人 xiǎo rén
petty person, small-minded individual
- 小 small; morally petty, of narrow character
- 人 person, man
- 比 bì
partisan, showing bias toward a narrow faction
Contrasted with 周; denotes exclusive loyalty to a narrow faction rather than universal fairness.
- 而 ér
contrastive conjunction: but, yet
- 不 bù
negation: not
- 周 zhōu
broadly inclusive, loyal to all without partiality
Translators split between reading 周 as social breadth/inclusiveness (Legge, Slingerland, Peimin Ni, Lau, Ames & Rosemont) and moral impartiality/fair-mindedness (Watson, Chin).
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