The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 2
仲尼曰：「君子中庸，小人反中庸。君子之中庸也，君子而時中；小人之中庸也，小人而無忌憚也。」
Zhong-ni said, "The superior man embodies the course of the Mean; the mean man acts contrary to the course of the Mean. The superior man's embodying the course of the Mean is because he is a superior man, and so always maintains the Mean. The mean man's acting contrary to the course of the Mean is because he is a mean man, and has no caution."
English: James Legge (1861), The Doctrine of the Mean, The Chinese Classics vol. 1 (1861); romanization modernized on Wikisource — public domain. Chinese: Chinese text from the Wikisource bilingual edition.
Character glossary
- 仲zhòngmiddle brother; go between, mediator; su
- 尼níBuddhist nun; used in transliterations
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 君jūnsovereign, ruler, prince, monarch, chief
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 中zhōngcentral; center, middle; amidst; to hit
- 庸yōngusual, common, ordinary, mediocre
- 小xiǎosmall, tiny, insignificant
- 人rénman, person; people
- 反fǎnreverse, opposite; contrary, anti-
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 也yěalso, too
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 時shítime, season; period, era, age
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 忌jìjealous, envious; to fear; to shun
- 憚dànto fear, to dread; to dislike, to avoid
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Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.