Dharma & Dao

Analects of Confucius 12.3

translated from Classical Chinese by James Legge, 1893

  1. Sze-ma Niu asked about perfect virtue. 2. The Master said, ‘The man of perfect virtue is cautious and slow in his speech.’

  2. ‘Cautious and slow in his speech!’ said Niu;— ‘is this what is meant by perfect virtue?’ The Master said, ‘When a man feels the difficulty of doing, can he be other than cautious and slow in speaking?’