Analects 11.9
The Analects (論語), BOOK XI. HSIEN TSIN 先進第十一
顏淵死、子哭之慟、從者曰、子慟矣。曰、有慟乎。非夫人之爲慟而誰爲。
1. When Yen Yuan died, the Master bewailed him exceedingly, and the disciples who were with him said, "Master, your grief is excessive?"
2. "Is it excessive?" said he.
3. "If I am not to mourn bitterly for this man, for whom should I mourn?"
James Legge (1861), Confucian Analects, The Chinese Classics vol. 1 (1861; 2nd ed. 1893) — public domain.
Character glossary
- 顏yánface, facial appearance
- 淵yuānabyss, depth; to surge up, to bubble up
- 死sǐdead; death; impassable, inflexible
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 哭kūto weep, to cry, to wail
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 慟tòngsadness, grief; to mourn, to be moved
- 從cóngfrom, by, since, whence, through
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 矣yǐparticle of completed action
- 有yǒuto have, to own, to possess; to exist
- 乎hūinterrogative or exclamatory final parti
- 非fēinot, negative, non-; to oppose
- 夫fūman, husband; worker; those
- 人rénman, person; people
- 爲wèido, handle, govern, act; be
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 誰shuíwho? whom? whose? anyone?
Passages with shared wording
- Analects 11.8
- Zhuangzi Tsê Yang
- Zhuangzi Hsü Wu Kuei
- Zhuangzi Nourishment of the Soul
- Zhuangzi The Universe
- Zhuangzi The Identity of Contraries
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.