一孔录The video for this chapter is still in production. For now this page gives the original text, the facsimile page, a working translation and the commentary; the full reading follows when the video is out.
子曰：巧言亂德，小不忍則亂大謀。The Master said: Clever words confuse virtue. Lack of patience in small things ruins great plans.
What this chapter says
一孔按：巧言能乱德，小事不能忍就会乱大谋。巧言变乱是非，听了使人丧其所守；小不忍如妇人之仁、匹夫之勇，都能坏事。常有人问：“巧言乱德，小不忍则乱大谋”，为什么小处不忍会坏大事？上面是一孔录的回答。
Yikonglu's reading of this chapter is in Chinese for now; the English version comes with the video.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说，花言巧语会搅乱德行，小处不能忍耐，就会搅乱大计划。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
看Watch this chapter
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Close reading and checking
For readers who want to go deeper or check our work: key words in the commentary, what other commentators say, textual variants, the commentaries in their own words with facsimile pages, pronunciation and corrections. Tap a heading to open it.
常The common reading
“巧言乱德，小不忍则乱大谋”，为什么小处不忍会坏大事？
注Key words in the commentary
巧言，变乱是非，听之使人丧其所守。小不忍，如妇人之仁、匹夫之勇皆是。
核Zhu Xi's commentary, line by line
Zhu Xi's own words on each line of this chapter, each checked against the base-edition page. Other commentators are added when the chapter is covered. About this edition
| Line | Quoted text | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 子曰：巧言乱德， | “巧言，变乱是非，听之使人丧其所守。小不忍，如妇人之仁、匹夫之勇皆是。” | page 216 |
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 八
“云巧言亂德者，辭達而已，不須巧辯，巧辯文多，更於德為亂之也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以巧言乱是非而损德、小不忍如姑息爱或血气怒可坏大谋，不把忍辱等同一概隐忍不行动。 |
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