一孔录子曰：质胜文则野，文胜质则史。文质彬彬，然后君子。The Master said: When substance outweighs refinement, one is rustic; when refinement outweighs substance, one is a clerk. Only when refinement and substance are well blended is one a gentleman.
Tap any sentence of the original to copy it with its source.
白Plain Chinese
孔子说：质朴压过了文采，就显得粗野；文采压过了质朴，就像个只会弄文书的小吏。文采和质朴搭配得当，才算君子。
A plain modern-Chinese rendering following Yikonglu's reading.
常The common reading
Too rough or too showy: which would Confucius rather have?
注Key words in the commentary
“野，野人，言鄙略也。史，掌文书，多闻习事，而诚或不足也。彬彬，犹班班，物相杂而适均之貌” — “ye” is a rustic, coarse and careless; “shi” is a scribe who keeps documents, well-informed and practised but perhaps lacking sincerity; “binbin” is like “banban”, things mixed in just proportion; “学者当损有余，补不足，至于成德，则不期然而然矣” — the learner should reduce the excess and make up the lack; on reaching complete virtue it comes about without being sought.
家What other commentators say
Yang: “文质不可以相胜。然质之胜文，犹之甘可以受和，白可以受采也。文胜而至于灭质，则其本亡矣。虽有文，将安施乎？然则与其史也，宁野” — refinement and substance must not overpower each other. Yet substance exceeding refinement is like sweetness that can take seasoning, or white that can take colour. When refinement prevails to the point of destroying substance, the root is lost; though there is refinement, where would it be applied? So rather than the clerk, better the rustic.
读How Yikonglu reads it
Too much plainness is crude, too much ornament is hollow; only the two in balance make a gentleman. If one must lean, better lean plain: with the base intact, refinement can be added; with the base gone, refinement has nowhere to go.
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
“云質勝文則野者，謂凡行禮及言語之儀也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以质胜文则鄙略、文胜质则史、文质相杂均适乃君子。钱兼言宗庙祝史，朱侧重掌文书熟事而诚不足。 |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “野，野人……则不期然而然矣” | Zhu Xi's commentary | page 84 |
| “杨氏曰：文质不可以相胜……然则与其史也，宁野” | Yang Shi, quoted by Zhu Xi | page 84 page 85 |
音Pronunciation
| Character | In the line | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| 胜 | 质胜文、文胜质、相胜 | shèng |
| 彬 | 彬彬 | bīn |
页Pages of the base edition
Yikonglu, Analects 雍也第六 6.16 “Too rough or too polished: which would Confucius prefer?”, https://yikonglu.com/en/lunyu/yong-ye/16.html, version 2026-11-05.Last checked: 2026-11-05. Changes are logged on theerrata page.
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