一孔录子曰：晏平仲善与人交，久而敬之。The Master said: Yan Pingzhong was good at associating with others; long acquainted, he still treated them with respect.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：晏平仲懂得与人相处，相交日久，依旧待人恭敬。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Once you have known someone a long time you no longer need formalities; being polite only keeps them at a distance.
注Key words in the commentary
“久而敬之” — long acquainted, still respectful.
家What other commentators say
Zhu Xi: “晏平仲，齐大夫，名婴” — Yan Pingzhong, a grandee of Qi, personal name Ying. He cites Master Cheng: “人交久则敬衰，久而能敬，所以为善” — when people have known each other long, respect fades; to keep respect after a long time is what makes him good at it.
读How Yikonglu reads it
Respect fading with time is the usual course; keeping it is what “good at associating with others” means. Today: after five years sharing a flat, a roommate still knocks before borrowing your charger.
家Other commentaries
Our base text is Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries (above). Here are other commentaries side by side: for old commentaries, the first line of the sub-commentary with a link to the woodblock scan; for modern editions, one short quoted translation for comparison. The “compared with Zhu Xi” notes are written by Yikonglu, not quoted.
皇侃《论语义疏》Liang dynasty · 1750 Japanese woodblock edition · juan 三
“云晏平仲善與人交者，言晏平仲與人結交有善也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同取晏子交友虽久仍能敬人，不以敬之解释为他人敬晏子的外在效果。 |
核Check every citation
Every commentary line quoted in the video: the original wording, who said it, and the page in the base edition. “Paraphrase” marks our summary, not the commentator's words. About this edition
| Quoted text | Source | Page |
|---|---|---|
| “晏平仲，齐大夫，名婴。程子曰：人交久则敬衰，久而能敬，所以为善” | 朱注；朱注引程子 | page 69 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 晏 | 晏平仲 | yàn |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects 公冶长第五 5.16 “Is it more polite not to stand on ceremony with old friends?”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/gong-ye-chang/16.html, version 2026-11-05.Last checked: 2026-11-05. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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