Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Analects, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Self-Restraint
Honesty and Integrity
The Individual vs. The Collective
Self-Mastery, Discipline, and Improvement
Summary
Analysis
When asked about what is shameful, the Master says that making salary one’s primary objective, regardless of whether the Way is popular in one’s state, is shameful behavior. Confucius says that when the Way prevails in one’s state, one should “speak and act with perilous high-mindedness.” When the Way does not prevail in one’s state, one should act the same, but “speak with self-effacing diffidence.”
Here, Confucius suggests that followers of the Way should be dedicated to it even when it is not advantageous. He implies that, when the Way is not powerful in one’s state, rather than pursuing a high salary, one should seek to reestablish the Way as the state’s norms for moral conduct and behavior.
Themes
The Master wonders whether it’s possible to love someone without making them work hard, and whether it’s possible to do what’s best for someone without educating them.
In this moment, Confucius characterizes his rigorous teaching as an act of love. He believes that to truly love someone, one must encourage them to improve.
Themes
One of the Master’s disciples hears someone say that Confucius never speaks, laughs, or takes anything. The disciple corrects this evaluation, saying that Confucius only speaks when it is appropriate, so people never tire of listening to him. He only laughs when it is appropriate, so people never tire of hearing him laugh. And he only takes what it is correct for him to take, which is why people never tire of his taking.
In this passage, Confucius’s disciple characterizes his teacher, first and foremost, as someone who exercises a lot of restraint. He depicts Confucius as someone who is aware of what the collective needs—whether they need him to speak or stay in silence, for instance—which is what allows him to maintain healthy relationships with the community.
Themes
The Master says that men who “shun the world” are superior to men who shun a particular place; these men are superior to those who are averse to a hostile look, who are superior still to men who are averse to hostile words.
Here, Confucius implies that those who “shun the world” are superior because they exercise material restraint. His choice to devalue men who can’t tolerate hearing hostile words suggests that he thinks men who can’t bear criticism lack character.
Themes
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When Yu asks about the gentleman, the Master says that by improving himself, the gentleman also improves his society.
Here, the Master links one’s own moral improvement with the moral improvement of one’s community. This expands upon his idea that people are constantly learning from one another. It shows that cultivating benevolence is not selfish—it is for the good of all.
Themes
