The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 8
子曰：「回之為人也，擇乎中庸，得一善，則拳拳服膺而弗失之矣。」
The Master said "This was the manner of Hui: he made choice of the Mean, and whenever he got hold of what was good, he clasped it firmly, as if wearing it on his breast, and did not lose it."
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
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 回huíto return, to turn around; a time
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 為wèito do, to act; to handle, to govern; to
- 人rénman, person; people
- 也yěalso, too
- 擇zéto select, to choose
- 乎hūinterrogative or exclamatory final parti
- 中zhōngcentral; center, middle; amidst; to hit
- 庸yōngusual, common, ordinary, mediocre
- 得déto obtain, to get, to acquire; suitable,
- 一yīone; a, an; alone
- 善shàngood, virtuous, charitable, kind
- 則zérule, law, regulation; grades
- 拳quánfist; various forms of boxing
- 服fúclothes; to dress, to wear; to take medi
- 膺yīngbreast, chest; to bear, to undertake
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 弗fúnot, negative
- 失shīto lose; to make a mistake, to neglect
- 矣yǐparticle of completed action
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Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.