Analects 9.7
The Analects (論語), BOOK IX. TSZE HAN 子罕第九
子曰、吾有知乎哉、無知也、有鄙夫問於我、空空如也、我叩其兩端而竭焉。
The Master said, "Am I indeed possessed of knowledge? I am not knowing. But if a mean person, who appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it."
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
- 吾wúI, my, our; to resist, to impede
- 有yǒuto have, to own, to possess; to exist
- 知zhīto know, to perceive, to comprehend
- 乎hūinterrogative or exclamatory final parti
- 哉zāifinal exclamatory particle
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 也yěalso, too
- 鄙bǐrustic, vulgar; to despise, to scorn
- 夫fūman, husband; worker; those
- 問wènto ask about, to inquire after
- 於yúat, in, on; to, from; alas!
- 我wǒI, me, my; our, us
- 空kōnghollow, empty, deserted, bare
- 如rúas, as if, like, such as, supposing
- 叩kòuto ask; to bow, to kowtow; to knock
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 兩liǎngtwo, both, pair, couple; ounce
- 端duānend, extreme; head; beginning
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 竭jiéto exhaust; to put forth great effort
- 焉yānwhy? where? how?; strange; thereupon, th
Passages with shared wording
- The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 6
- Mencius 4B.24
- Zhuangzi Tien Tzŭ Fang
- Zhuangzi Man Among Men
- Art of War 13.18
- Analects 14.46
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.