一孔录子曰：巧言、令色、足恭，左丘明耻之，丘亦耻之。匿怨而友其人，左丘明耻之，丘亦耻之。The Master said: Fine words, an ingratiating face, excessive deference — Zuoqiu Ming was ashamed of them, and I too am ashamed of them. Hiding resentment and befriending the man — Zuoqiu Ming was ashamed of it, and I too am ashamed of it.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：话说得漂亮，脸色装得好看，恭敬得过了头，左丘明觉得可耻，我也觉得可耻。心里藏着怨恨，面上却跟那人交朋友，左丘明觉得可耻，我也觉得可耻。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Being too polite is surely harmless — why did Confucius find it shameful?
注Key words in the commentary
In “足恭”, “足” is read jù; Zhu Xi: “将树反。足，过也” — pronounced jù; it means excessive; “匿” is read nì; “窬” is read yú (“穿窬”, thieves who dig through or climb over walls).
家What other commentators say
Zhu Xi cites Master Cheng: “左丘明，古之闻人也” — Zuoqiu Ming was a renowned man of old; and Xie: “二者之可耻，有甚于穿窬也。左丘明耻之，其所养可知矣。夫子自言丘亦耻之，盖窃比老彭之意。又以深戒学者，使察乎此而立心以直也” — these two are more shameful than burglary; that Zuoqiu Ming was ashamed of them shows his cultivation; the Master's “I too am ashamed” carries the sense of modestly comparing himself to Lao Peng, and deeply warns learners to examine this and set their hearts on uprightness.
读How Yikonglu reads it
Both shames are a gap between inside and outside: sweet words, smiles and excessive courtesy to curry favour; befriending someone while nursing a grudge is pretence. Xie says it is worse than theft, because the heart is not upright. Today: holding a grudge, yet being the first at the table to raise a glass to him.
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
“云巧言令色足恭者，謂己用恭情少，而為巧言令色足恭之者也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | 足恭 | differs | fairly sure | 钱取两足行动做恭敬，与巧言令色并列；朱读足为过，指过分恭敬。匿怨友人之虚伪皆以为耻。 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “足，将树反。足，过也。程子曰：左丘明，古之闻人也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 73 |
| “谢氏曰：二者之可耻，有甚于穿窬也……使察乎此而立心以直也” | Xie Liangzuo, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 73 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 足 | 足恭、足过也 | jù |
| 匿 | 匿怨 | nì |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects 公冶长第五 5.24 “Why did Confucius find excessive politeness shameful?”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/gong-ye-chang/24.html, version 2026-11-05.Last checked: 2026-11-05. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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