quote · Source-linked selection
1. The Master said, 'My children, why do you not study the Book of Poetry? 2. 'The Odes serve to stimulate the mind. 3. 'They may be used for purposes of self-contemplation. 4. 'They teach the art of sociability. 5. 'They show how to regulate feelings of resentment. 6. 'From them you learn the more immediate duty of serving one's father, and the remoter one of serving one's prince. 7. 'From them we become largely acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and plants.'
1. The Master said, 'My children, why do you not study the Book of Poetry? 2. 'The Odes serve to stimulate the mind. 3. 'They may be used for purposes of self-contemplation. 4. 'They teach the art of sociability. 5. 'They show how to regulate feelings of resentment. 6. 'From them you learn the more immediate duty of serving one's father, and the remoter one of serving one's prince. 7. 'From them we become largely acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and plants.'
Approximate author period: c. 515 BC · ancient
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Confucius (traditional attribution)
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 515 BC · ancient
traditional author lifetime midpoint (551–479 BCE), Stanford Encyclopedia; not quotation composition date
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- The Analects of Confucius (James Legge English translation)
Book XVII, complete printed chapter IX; James Legge translation; Undated digitized James Legge English edition; printed publication year/publisher not supplied in this cached text
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
The voice behind the words.
The Analects transmit collected sayings and representations of Master Kong, rather than an independently authenticated author manuscript. Traditional lifetime551–479BCE follows Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; the Gutenberg catalogue uses552–480BCE. Only complete Master-speech chapters are represented here; other speakers and dialogue remain held.
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