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
Speaking metaphorically, the Master says that benevolence is the most beautiful neighborhood. Any wise man who can choose where to reside should choose to settle in benevolence. Wise men choose benevolence because they are genuinely attracted to it, while small men aspire to benevolence because they think that it is advantageous. Any man who “sets his heart on benevolence” will be free of evil.
The Master frames benevolence—being well-meaning and kind—as the ultimate goal to achieve through following the Way. Here, he points to restraint as an important tool to use in pursuing benevolence. A person should not seek benevolence because it will assist in self-serving needs; instead, they should aspire to benevolence for its own sake.
Themes
The Master comments that although everyone aspires to wealth and prestige, people should not accept these positions unless they are justly earned. Similarly, he says that although many feel aversion to poverty and low station, it is not worth it to try to escape these experiences. Only through benevolence, the Master says, can a gentleman make a reputation for himself. True gentlemen are always benevolent.
Confucius here again emphasizes restraint as an important tool. Through restraint, those who aspire to high station are able to discern when they’ve truly earned their wealth. Similarly, it is through restraint that poor people are able to live their lives without feeling contempt for their own low stations in life and society.
Themes
The Master wonders whether men would be capable of devoting all of their strength to the task of becoming benevolent for a single day. He says that he has never met a man who lacked the necessary strength to take on such a challenge.
In this moment, Confucius suggests that although becoming benevolent is a challenging task, everyone is fully capable of being benevolent as long as they put forth a sincere effort. He implies that it is the lack of willingness to be disciplined and make an effort that prevents more people from being benevolent.
Themes
According to the Master, a man who has his heart set on the Way but who is ashamed to be poorly dressed and poorly fed isn’t worth speaking to. The Master says that while the small man understands profit, the gentleman understands moral virtue.
In this moment, Confucius again draws readers’ attention to restraint as a key element to practicing the Way. Moral virtue, for him, is worth far more than profit. He suggests that to practice the Way requires wisdom to recognize that material comfort is not the most important thing.
Themes
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The Master says that children, when they see their parents doing what is wrong, should only give advice gently. If the parents ignore the advice, the children must not insist. Children should remain obedient, even if this is a frustrating process.
This moment again suggests that being a good child means deferring to the absolute authority of one’s parents. Even if children know that what their parents are doing is morally wrong, Confucius implies that children should choose to obey their parents over correcting wrong behavior. This may be surprising, given Confucius’s interest in honesty and virtue—clearly, familial duty, traditional hierarchies, and deference to one’s immediate family and ancestors are all far more important to him.
Themes
The Master mentions that in antiquity, men did not speak so much. This was because they considered it very shameful for one to fail to “keep up with [one’s] words.”
Again, the Master speaks about integrity, emphasizing the importance of backing up one’s words with actions.
Themes
