Analects 17.22
The Analects (論語), BOOK XVII. YANG HO 陽貨第十七
子曰、飽食終日、無所用心、難矣哉、不有博弈者乎、爲之猶賢乎已。
The Master said, "Hard is it to deal with him, who will stuff himself with food the whole day, without applying his mind to anything good! Are there not gamesters and chess players? To be one of these would still be better than doing nothing at all."
James Legge (1861), Confucian Analects, The Chinese Classics vol. 1 (1861; 2nd ed. 1893) — public domain.
Character glossary
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 飽bǎosatisfied; to eat one's fill
- 食shífood; to eat
- 終zhōngend; finally, in the end
- 日rìsun; day; daytime
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 所suǒplace, location; "that which", a particl
- 用yòngto use, to employ, to apply; use
- 心xīnheart; mind; soul
- 難nánhard, difficult, arduous; unable
- 矣yǐparticle of completed action
- 哉zāifinal exclamatory particle
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 有yǒuto have, to own, to possess; to exist
- 博bóto gamble, to play games; to win; rich,
- 弈yìChinese chess
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 乎hūinterrogative or exclamatory final parti
- 爲wèido, handle, govern, act; be
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 猶yóusimilar to, just like, as
- 賢xiánvirtuous, worthy; good, able
- 已yǐalready; finished; to stop; then, afterw
Passages with shared wording
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.