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：可與言而不與之言，失人；不可與言而與之言，失言。知者不失人，亦不失言。The Master said: Not to speak with someone you should speak with is to lose a person; to speak with someone you should not speak with is to waste words. The wise lose neither people nor words.
What this chapter says
一孔按：可以跟他说却不说，是失人；不可以跟他说却说了，是失言。知者两样都不失：看清对方，再决定开不开口。常有人问：“可与言而不与之言，失人”，什么话该跟什么人说？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，该与他说话却不说，便错过了人，不该与他说话却说了，便说失了话；有智慧的人既不失人，也不失言。
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
“可与言而不与之言，失人”，什么话该跟什么人说？
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
“云子曰云云者，謂此人可與之言，則與之言。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以可与言不言失其人、不当言而言失言，知者善识分寸。钱并提言贵使道重与人才难得，朱原文不另注。 |
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