“To hear something on the road and repeat it on the road is to cast virtue aside.” The sentence comes from the Yang Huo chapter of the Analects. Some modern Chinese editions write 途说 instead of 涂说; here 涂 carries the same sense as 途, “road”. The image is of a rumour heard in passing and immediately passed on.
The criticism is not directed at merely encountering unverified information, but at forwarding it without checking or accepting responsibility for judgement. Before sharing a startling claim today, finding its original source and checking its date and context remains a restrained application of the sentence. Caution does not require silence; it means refusing to let speed replace evidence.
https://ctext.org/analects/yang-huo/zh
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