Analects 4.8
The Analects (論語), BOOK IV. LE JIN 里仁第四
子曰、朝聞道、夕死、可矣。
The Master said, "If a man in the morning hear the right way, he may die in the evening without regret."
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
- 朝cháoto face; direct, facing; dynasty; mornin
- 聞wénnews; to hear, to smell; to make known
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 夕xīevening, night, dusk; slanted
- 死sǐdead; death; impassable, inflexible
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 矣yǐparticle of completed action
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi The Identity of Contraries
- Zhuangzi The Great Supreme
- Art of War 1.5–6
- Art of War 8.12
- Mencius 4B.13
- Mencius 4B.23
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.