Analects 7.16
The Analects (論語), BOOK VII. SHU R 述而第七
子曰、加我數年、五十以學易、可以無大過矣。
The Master said, "If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults."
Chapter XVII The Master's frequent themes of discourse were—the Odes, the History, and the maintenance of the Rules of Propriety. On all these he frequently discoursed.
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
- 加jiāto add to, to increase, to augment
- 我wǒI, me, my; our, us
- 數shùcount, number, several
- 年niányear; anniversary; a person's age
- 五wǔfive; surname
- 十shíten, tenth; complete; perfect
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 學xuélearning, knowledge, science; to study,
- 易yìto change; to exchange, to trade; simple
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 大dàbig, great, vast, high, deep
- 過guòpass; to go across, to pass through
- 矣yǐparticle of completed action
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi The Circling Sky
- Zhuangzi On Declining Power
- Analects 18.10
- Mencius 1A.7
- Art of War 13.2
- Mencius 3B.6
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.