Analects 6.1

The Analects (論語), BOOK VI. YUNG YEY 雍也第六

子曰、雍也可使南面。仲弓問子桑伯子。子曰、可也、簡。仲弓曰、居敬而行簡、以臨其民、不亦可乎、居簡而行簡、無乃大簡乎。子曰、雍之言然。

1. The Master said, "There is Yung!—He might occupy the place of a prince."

2. Chung-kung asked about Tsze-sang Po-tsze. The Master said, "He may pass. He does not mind small matters."

3. Chung-kung said, "If a man cherish in himself a reverential feeling of the necessity of attention to business, though he may be easy in small matters in his government of the people, that may be allowed. But if he cherish in himself that easy feeling, and also carry it out in his practice, is not such an easy mode of procedure excessive?"

4. The Master said, "Yung's words are right."

James Legge (1861), Confucian Analects, The Chinese Classics vol. 1 (1861; 2nd ed. 1893) — public domain.

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Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.