一孔录子曰：士志于道，而耻恶衣恶食者，未足与议也。The Master said: A scholar who sets his heart on the Way, yet is ashamed of poor clothes and poor food, is not worth talking with.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：读书人立志追求真理，却以穿得不好、吃得不好为耻，这种人，不值得跟他商议。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Is this telling scholars to be content with poverty?
注Key words in the commentary
e in “恶衣恶食” means coarse, poor; “心欲求道，而以口体之奉不若人为耻，其识趣之卑陋甚矣，何足与议于道哉” — his heart wants the Way, yet he is ashamed that the comforts of his mouth and body fall short of others': how low his sense and taste are; how could one discuss the Way with him?
家What other commentators say
Cheng Yi: “志于道而心役乎外，何足与议也” — set on the Way, yet with a heart in the service of outward things: how could one discuss anything with him?
读How Yikonglu reads it
The mouth says the heart is set on the Way, but the heart is ordered about by things outside. The problem is not dressing poorly; it is treating poor dress as a shame. Today: someone who says he will devote himself to studying for the exam first spends three days picking the most expensive stationery.
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
“若欲志於道而恥惡衣惡食者，此則是無志之人，故不足與共謀議於道也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | same | fairly sure | 志道者若耻粗衣恶食则不足共议；朱以外物累心妨碍议道解释，非要求主动追求贫困。 | |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以耻恶衣恶食见志道未实、心为外物所役；钱另从士之社会身份说明求学行道不能专求个人安富。 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “心欲求道，而以口体之奉不若人为耻，其识趣之卑陋甚矣，何足与议于道哉” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 54 |
| “志于道而心役乎外，何足与议也” | Cheng Yi, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 54 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 恶 | 恶衣恶食 | è |
| 与 | 未足与议、何足与议 | yǔ |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects Li ren (Book 4) 4.9 “A scholar set on the Way who is ashamed of poor clothes”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/li-ren/9.html, version 2026-11-04.Last checked: 2026-11-04. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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