A daily bilingual series presenting one verified Classical Chinese sentence with its source, context, original meaning and a restrained contemporary reflection.
- A Fleabane Among Hemp Grows Straight Without Support
- A Gale Does Not Last All Morning, Nor a Downpour All Day
- A Junzi Is Not a Vessel — A Person Is More Than One Use
- A Good Farmer Does Not Stop Tilling Because of Flood or Drought
- A Good Learner Lets the Teacher Work Less and Achieve More
- A Good Learner Makes Teaching More Effective
- A Great Way Is Not Confined to One Function
- A Near Road Still Requires Walking
- A Petty Person Always Decorates a Fault
- A Skilful Questioner Works Like a Woodworker
- A Student Need Not Be Inferior to the Teacher
- A Frog in a Well Cannot Be Told of the Sea, Being Confined by Its Space
- Know What Cannot Be Helped and Accept It as One's Lot
- Advise Sincerely, but Know When to Stop
- An Empty Room Grows Bright; Good Fortune Rests in Stillness
- An Error Uncorrected Is the Real Error
- Answering Questions Is Like Striking a Bell
- Asking Broadens Understanding; Self-Certainty Narrows It
- Be Cautious in Speech and Quick in Action
- Be Troubled by Inability, Not by Being Unknown
- Believing Every Word Is Not the Same as Reading
- Clever Deception Is Inferior to Clumsy Sincerity
- Cold Reveals the Pines; Difficulty Reveals Character
- Collective Anger Is Hard to Defy; Private Will Is Hard to Fulfil
- “Complete Trust in the Book Is Worse Than Having No Book”
- Who Is Without Fault? The Greatest Good Is to Correct It
- Do Not Demand Completeness from One Person
- Do Not Let Words Obscure the Author’s Intent
- Do Not Split Hairs in Search of Tiny Flaws
- Do Not Transfer Anger or Repeat a Mistake
- Do Not Worry That Others Do Not Know You
- Each Side Has Its Own Rights and Wrongs
- A Dog Is Not Good for Barking Well, Nor a Person Worthy for Speaking Well
- Even the Best Way Cannot Be Known Without Learning
- Can We Judge Without Seeing or Hearing? — Evidence Before Conclusion
- Examine Both What Everyone Condemns and What Everyone Praises
- Examine Every Claim and Test It by Reason
- Examine Yourself Before Blaming Others
- Examine Yourself to Know Others, and the Present to Know the Past
- Extensive Learning Should Return to Concision
- Life Is Limited, While Knowledge Has No Limit
- No Presumption, No Insistence, No Rigidity, No Self-Centredness
- Good Teaching Lets Others Continue the Purpose
- Approach Goodness Eagerly; Draw Back from Wrong as from Scalding Water
- Great Beauty Without a Spoken Explanation
- Great Straightness Seems Bent; Great Skill Seems Clumsy
- Guidance Begins When the Learner Is Striving
- Harmony Without Demanding Sameness
- Haste Misses the Goal; Small Gains Obstruct Great Work
- He Rejoiced When Others Pointed Out His Faults
- Now I Hear Their Words and Observe Their Conduct
- In Hearing Disputes, I Am Like Others—Can We Make Litigation Unnecessary?
- Hearing Disputes Is Not Enough
- Hearsay Repeated on the Road Abandons Virtue
- Help Others Complete the Good, Not the Harmful
- Honour the Worthy, Include the Many, and Care for Those Who Cannot
- I Was Not Born Knowing, but Sought Knowledge Diligently
- Look at What They Do, How They Proceed, and Where They Rest
- Do Not Promote a Person for Words or Reject Words for the Person
- Know Contentment, Know When to Stop, and Endure
- Knowing Is Not as Good as Doing
- Knowing What Comes First Brings Us Near the Way
- Knowing Where to Rest Brings Steadiness
- Knowing Where to Stop — Purpose Before Speed
- Learn Broadly, Hold Firm, Ask Closely and Think Near at Hand
- Learning Adds; Following the Way Reduces
- The Noble Person Learns to Shape the Self, Not to Offer a Gift
- Learning Alone Without Companions Narrows Understanding
- Learning Without Thinking Confuses; Thinking Without Learning Endangers
- “Learning from One Another's Strengths”: Why Does Study Need Mutual Observation?
- Learning Enters the Ear and Appears in Action
- The Ancients Learnt for Themselves; People Today Learn for Others
- Learn What You Lack, Retain What You Know — Learning Needs Maintenance
- Learning Reveals What We Lack; Teaching Reveals What Is Difficult
- Learning Should Refine the Self, Not Serve as a Gift
- Too Solitary to Stay: Liu Zongyuan’s Little Stone Pool
- Those Who Love Others Are Loved; Those Who Respect Others Are Respected
- To Love Yet See Faults, to Dislike Yet See Merits
- Memorised Answers Are Not Enough to Make a Teacher
- Minds Differ Just as Faces Do
- Must Every Word Be Kept at Any Cost?
- No Assumption, No Insistence, No Obstinacy, No Self-Centredness
- No Presumption, No Insistence, No Rigidity, No Ego
- On Seeing Good, Move Towards It; Having Faults, Correct Them
- Do Not Let One Fault Hide Great Merit — One Mistake Is Not the Whole Person
- The Human Fault of Being Blinded by One Partial View
- One Who Corrects Me Rightly Is My Teacher
- Only After Declining Some Things Can We Act
- People Enlarge the Way; the Way Does Not Enlarge People
- People Know the Use of the Useful, but Not of the Useless
- Good Words Speak Near and Point Far; Good Ways Hold Little and Reach Wide
- The Book of Songs Can Also Voice Discontent
- Praised by All, Unmoved; Condemned by All, Undaunted
- Preparation Gives Action a Form
- Quiet Resolve Precedes Visible Understanding
- Reasoned Discourse Makes the Way Visible
- Running Water Does Not Stagnate; a Moving Hinge Does Not Decay
- See the Worthy, Then Examine Yourself
- Seeing Worth, Think of Equalling It; Seeing Fault, Reflect Within
- Hear Widely, Set Doubts Aside, and Speak the Rest with Care
- If the Water Is Not Deep, It Cannot Carry a Great Boat
- The Exemplary Person Is Skilled at Using What Is Available
- Still Water Reflects Clearly Enough to Serve as a Measure
- When Substance and Form Correct Each Other
- Success Requires Care; Failure Grows from Neglect
- Better to Take a Flint than Beg for Fire; Better to Dig a Well than Borrow Water
- Teaching Nurtures Strengths and Corrects Failings
- The Able Still Ask Those with Less
- The Exemplary Person Is Inclusive, Not Partisan
- The Exemplary Person Seeks It in Themselves
- The Eyes Cannot Look Two Ways and See Clearly
- A Human Fault Is the Desire to Instruct Others
- The Past Cannot Be Corrected; What Comes May Still Be Pursued
- The Wise Lose Neither the Person nor the Words
- Things Have Their Reasons and Their Acceptability
- Those Who Err Through Restraint Are Few
- The Days Pass, and Time Will Not Wait — Do Not Let Delay Replace Choice
- Standing on Tiptoe Does Not Make One Steady; Overstriding Does Not Carry One Far
- Trust Must Come Before Demands
- Do Not Assume Deceit or Presume Distrust
- Ji Wenzi Thought Three Times; Confucius Said Twice Would Do
- The Junzi Uses Things; the Lesser Person Is Used by Them
- Only After Weighing and Measuring Do We Know
- What Begins Simply May End Immense
- When Humanity Is at Stake, Do Not Defer
- When the World and Times Change, Laws Should Change
- If You Never Ask 'What Can Be Done?', Nothing Can Be Done for You
- Without Climbing High, We Do Not Know the Height of Heaven
- Without Genuineness and Sincerity, One Cannot Move Others
- Without Tasting Fine Food, You Cannot Know Its Flavour
- Without Trustworthiness, How Can a Person Go On?
- Words Need Only Convey the Meaning
- Words Need Only Carry the Meaning Through
- One Should Be Ashamed When Words Exceed Deeds