一孔录子曰：古者言之不出，耻躬之不逮也。The Master said: The ancients did not let their words out lightly, ashamed that their own conduct would not reach them.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：古人不轻易把话说出口，是因为以自己的行动赶不上为耻。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Read as “speak little” or “silence is golden”.
注Key words in the commentary
Dai (逮) means to reach. Zhu Xi: “言古者，以见今之不然……行不及言，可耻之甚” — saying “the ancients” shows that people now are not so; conduct falling short of words is most shameful.
家What other commentators say
Fan Zuyu: “非言之难，而行之难也。人惟其不行也，是以轻言之” — it is not speaking that is hard but doing; only because people do not act do they speak lightly; “言之如其所行，行之如其所言，则出诸其口必不易矣” — if one speaks as one acts and acts as one speaks, words will not come out of the mouth easily.
读How Yikonglu reads it
The fear is not of saying something wrong but of failing to do it. Today: in the work group chat one person replies “I'll definitely hand it in this week”; another says nothing and hands it in on Wednesday.
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 · Zhibuzu Zhai edition · juan 二
“躬，身也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | settled | 慎出言由于耻行动赶不上；朱训逮为及，杨同释赶上，不是耻于不能言辞华美。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以行不及言可耻，故古人不轻出言；钱明确不取言为著述，朱此章亦就言行关系说。 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “言古者，以见今之不然。逮，及也。行不及言，可耻之甚。古者所以不出其言，为此故也” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 58 |
| “君子之于言也，不得已而后出之，非言之难，而行之难也。人惟其不行也，是以轻言之。言之如其所行，行之如其所言，则出诸其口必不易矣” | Fan Zuyu, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 59 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 逮 | 耻躬之不逮、逮及也 | dài |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Li ren (Book 4) 4.22 “The ancients did not let words out, ashamed that their conduct would not keep up”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/li-ren/22.html, version 2026-11-05.Last checked: 2026-11-05. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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