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Lun Yu Introduction Table of content – The Analects of Confucius

The Master discusses with his disciples and unveil his preoccupations with society. Tr. Legge (en), Lau (en) and Couvreur (fr).

Lunyu XIII. 5. (322)

Literary acquirements useless without practical ability.
The Master said, "Though a man may be able to recite the three hundred odes, yet if, when intrusted with a governmental charge, he knows not how to act, or if, when sent to any quarter on a mission, he cannot give his replies unassisted, notwithstanding the extent of his learning, of what practical use is it?"

Legge XIII.5.

The Master said, 'If a man who knows the three hundred Odes by heart fails when given administrative responsibilities and proves incapable of exercising his own initiative when sent to foreign states, then what use are the Odes to him, however many he may have learned?'

Lau [13:5]

Le Maître dit : « Supposons qu'un homme ait appris les trois cents odes [du Livre des Odes] ; qu'ensuite, s'il est chargé d'une partie de l'administration, il manque d'habileté ; s'il est envoyé en mission, il soit incapable de répondre par lui-même ; que lui sert toute sa littérature ? »

Couvreur XIII.5.

[Xref] Lunyu XIII.5., XVII. 9. and XVII. 10. refers to Shi Jing
gbog – Shijing Lunyu 456 Lunyu 457 – 2005/12/02
Lun Yu XIII. 5. (322) IntroductionTable of content
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The Analects of Confucius – Lun Yu XIII. 5. (322) – Chinese on/offFrançais/English
Alias the Lunyu, the Lun Yü, the Analects, les Entretiens du maître avec ses disciples.

The Book of Odes, The Analects, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Three-characters book, The Book of Changes, The Way and its Power, 300 Tang Poems, The Art of War, Thirty-Six Strategies
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