“Now, in dealing with people, I hear their words and observe their conduct.” The sentence appears in the Gong Ye Chang chapter of the Analects. The preceding passage describes Zai Yu sleeping during the day. After strongly criticising him, Confucius says that he once heard a person's words and trusted that person's conduct; now he also watches the conduct. His closing words explain that Zai Yu prompted the change.
The original does not dismiss speech or recommend suspicion. It moves judgement from a promise alone to the relationship between words and actions. Read today, it still offers a restrained reminder: a statement may express a sincere intention without yet becoming settled conduct. Observation need not mean rushing to condemn; it can mean allowing time to test a promise.
https://ctext.org/analects/gong-ye-chang
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