一孔录子曰：十室之邑，必有忠信如丘者焉，不如丘之好学也。The Master said: In a hamlet of ten households there are surely people as loyal and trustworthy as I am, but none as fond of learning as I am.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：就是只有十户人家的小地方，也一定有像我这样忠厚守信的人，只是比不上我这样爱学罢了。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Is the only thing Confucius claimed to have more of than others just one thing?
注Key words in the commentary
“焉” is read yān; Zhu Xi: “如字，属上句” — read normally, belonging to the preceding clause (break after “如丘者焉”); the “好” of “好学” is in the departing tone; “邑” — a small settlement; “质” — native endowment.
家What other commentators say
Zhu Xi: “十室，小邑也。忠信如圣人，生质之美者也” — ten households is a small settlement; loyalty and trustworthiness like a sage's are a fine native endowment; “夫子生知而未尝不好学，故言此以勉人。言美质易得，至道难闻，学之至则可以为圣人，不学则不免为乡人而已。可不勉哉” — the Master knew by birth yet never ceased to love learning, so he said this to encourage others: fine endowments are easy to find, the highest Way is hard to hear; learning to the utmost one can become a sage, without learning one remains a villager. How can one not strive?
读How Yikonglu reads it
Loyalty and trust are the base, found everywhere; love of learning is effort, and rare. Confucius does not boast of innate knowledge, only of loving to learn, to encourage others. The Gongye Chang book ends here. Today: honest, reliable people are everywhere; people still going to night school at sixty are few.
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
“丘，孔子名也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以小邑亦有忠信天质而好学成德难得，强调不可恃质不学。钱更反对将圣人纯作生知而非由学得，朱所引朱张亦重学。 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “焉，如字，属上句。好，去声。十室，小邑也。忠信如圣人，生质之美者也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 75 |
| “夫子生知而未尝不好学，故言此以勉人。言美质易得，至道难闻，学之至则可以为圣人，不学则不免为乡人而已。可不勉哉” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 75 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 焉 | 如丘者焉 | yān |
| 好 | 好学 | hào |
| 邑 | 十室之邑、小邑 | yì |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects 公冶长第五 5.27 “The one thing Confucius claimed to have more of”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/gong-ye-chang/27.html, version 2026-11-05.Last checked: 2026-11-05. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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