“The exemplary person is inclusive and not partisan; the petty person is partisan and not inclusive.” The sentence appears in Book Two, “Wei Zheng”, of the Analects. Zhu Xi’s commentary explains zhou as broad or universal, and bi as partial faction: both concern closeness to others, but one is public-minded while the other is private and selective.
The sentence does not demand identical affection for everyone, nor does it reject friendship. Its subject is the standard of judgement: whether the same principle can still be recognised beyond personal closeness. Applied cautiously to a team or public discussion today, relationships may reasonably affect trust, but they should not decide in advance who must always be right.
https://ctext.org/analects/wei-zheng/ens
https://ctext.org/si-shu-zhang-ju-ji-zhu/wei-zheng-di-er
Discover more from Geoffrey Chen
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.