I’m always happy to see references to the Chinese classics as well as traditional values such as honor! In this post you quote the Analects of Confucious Ⅳ.Ⅺ.
The man of honor thinks of his character, the inferior man of his position. The man of honor desires justice, the inferior man favor.
I appreciate that you included the precise verse. That made it trivial for me to find the original quotation.
The original quote supports your thesis even better than the English translation!
Let’s look at the first part “士志于道”. In English, it means “the scholar aspires to the Dao”. (“Man of honor” is a reasonable translation of the word “scholar”.) In Sunzi’s The Art of War, the Dao is the highest ideal, followed by heaven, followed by earth, followed by character and finally art. The scholar isn’t just concerned about character over face. The scholar is concerned with something three tiers of importance higher than character. The original Chinese supports your statement about “unusually high standards” better than the English translation you reference.
Here is my translation. I have attempted to preserve the quote’s original literal meaning without adding my own spin. I rearranged the quote for clarity. The original arrangement is clever—which makes it hard to translate.
The scholar aspires to the Dao. It is not worth consulting (about the Dao) the kind of person who is ashamed of zir food and clothes.
I’m always happy to see references to the Chinese classics as well as traditional values such as honor! In this post you quote the Analects of Confucious Ⅳ.Ⅺ.
I appreciate that you included the precise verse. That made it trivial for me to find the original quotation.
Here is a translation from the original classical Chinese into modern Chinese.
The original quote supports your thesis even better than the English translation!
Let’s look at the first part “士志于道”. In English, it means “the scholar aspires to the Dao”. (“Man of honor” is a reasonable translation of the word “scholar”.) In Sunzi’s The Art of War, the Dao is the highest ideal, followed by heaven, followed by earth, followed by character and finally art. The scholar isn’t just concerned about character over face. The scholar is concerned with something three tiers of importance higher than character. The original Chinese supports your statement about “unusually high standards” better than the English translation you reference.
Here is my translation. I have attempted to preserve the quote’s original literal meaning without adding my own spin. I rearranged the quote for clarity. The original arrangement is clever—which makes it hard to translate.