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Books › The Analects › 公冶长第五

公冶长第五 · chapter 2Of Zijian the Master said: A gentleman indeed is this man

子谓子贱:君子哉若人!鲁无君子者,斯焉取斯?
Source text and commentary from Zhu Xi, Lunyu jizhu (Sibu beiyao printing).

The Master said of Zijian: A gentleman indeed is this man! If Lu had no gentlemen, where could he have got this from?

Working English rendering by Yikonglu; the Chinese text above is what counts.

Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.

白Plain Chinese

孔子评说子贱:这个人真是君子啊!倘若鲁国没有君子,他又从哪里得来这样的德行?

A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.

常The common reading

Read only as one line of praise for Zijian.

注Key words in the commentary

Yan (焉) read yān. Zijian's surname is Fu (宓, read fú), personal name Buqi. “上斯斯此人,下斯斯此德” — the first si refers to this man, the second to this virtue; “子贱盖能尊贤取友以成其德者……因以见鲁之多贤也” — Zijian honoured the worthy and chose friends to complete his virtue; this also shows how many worthies Lu had.

家What other commentators say

Su Shi (cited by Zhu Xi): “称人之善,必本其父兄师友,厚之至也” — in praising someone's goodness, to root it in his father, brothers, teachers and friends is the height of generosity.

读How Yikonglu reads it

A person's virtue is taken from the worthies around him, so praising him means also praising those who made him. Today: a newcomer wins an award and the first thing said on stage is to point to a teacher in the audience.

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

“云子謂子賤者,亦評子賤也。”……

woodblock scan vol. 2 p. 4About this edition

钱穆《论语新解》modern, short quote

“子贱这人呀,真是个君子人了!”

About this edition

Compared with Zhu Xi

CommentaryPointRelationConfidenceNote
钱穆《论语新解》samefairly sure同以上斯指人、下斯指德,赞子贱善于尊贤取友以成德,并由此见鲁多贤者。

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 textSourcePage
“上斯斯此人,下斯斯此德。子贱盖能尊贤取友以成其德者,故夫子既叹其贤,而又言若鲁无君子,则此人何所取以成此德乎?因以见鲁之多贤也”Zhu Xi's commentarypage 62
“称人之善,必本其父兄师友,厚之至也”朱注引苏氏page 62

音Pronunciation

CharacterIn the lineRead as
焉斯焉取斯、焉用佞yān

页Pages of the base edition

Cite this pageYikonglu, Analects 公冶长第五 5.2 “Of Zijian the Master said: A gentleman indeed is this man”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/gong-ye-chang/2.html, version 2026-11-05.

Last checked: 2026-11-05. Changes are logged on theerrata page.

Found an error in this chapter? Email us; once checked, it goes on the errata page under your username: email (image)

#取友成德#称人之善#苏轼#鲁多贤

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