“The exemplary person is troubled by a lack of ability, not by others failing to know them.” The sentence is from the Wei Ling Gong chapter of the Analects. Here, “troubled” means concerned, while “not being known” means lacking recognition. Confucius shifts the primary worry towards whether one has genuine ability.
The surrounding chapter repeatedly considers self-cultivation, reputation and conduct. The sentence does not claim that external evaluation is meaningless. It redirects attention from recognition we cannot control to ability that can be examined. Its restrained modern use is not to blame someone who has been overlooked, but to ask whether the work, judgement or responsibility itself withstands scrutiny before concluding that the only problem is invisibility.
https://ctext.org/analects/wei-ling-gong/zh
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