Analects 7.8
The Analects (論語), BOOK VII. SHU R 述而第七
子曰、不憤不啟、不悱不發、擧一隅、不以三隅反、則不復也。
The Master said, "I do not open up the truth to one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anxious to explain himself. When I have presented one corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson."
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
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 憤fènanger, indignation; to hate, to resent
- 啟qǐto open; to begin, to commence; to expla
- 悱fěiovercome with emotion; at a loss for wor
- 發fāto issue, to dispatch, to send out; hair
- 擧jǔraise, lift up; recommend
- 一yīone; a, an; alone
- 隅yúcorner, cranny, niche
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 三sānthree
- 反fǎnreverse, opposite; contrary, anti-
- 則zérule, law, regulation; grades
- 復fùagain, repeatedly; copy, duplicate; to r
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
- Analects 1.13
- Zhuangzi The Secret of Life
- Mencius 1B.16
- Mencius 7A.28
- Zhuangzi On Declining Power
- Analects 7.5
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.