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 which of his disciples are eager to learn, Confucius mentions one student who rarely takes his anger out on innocent people and doesn’t repeat his mistakes. But now, this student is dead, and no other student comes to mind as having these same qualities.
Confucius only mentions one student here, which suggests that he has very high standards for his disciples’ behavior. The quality that he praises is, again, restraint—he admires his deceased student’s emotional restraint in controlling his anger.
Themes
The Master says that he admires Hui, who lives in a small home and only has a bowlful of rice to eat each day. Most men, he says, would find these circumstances unbearable, but Hui remains joyful in spite of this hardship.
This is one of many moments in which Confucius praises those who live in poverty and yet are happy. His admiration for such people draws attention to how little he values material comfort.
Themes
The Master says that it is appropriate to tell the above average about the behavior of the best, but not to tell them about the behavior of the below average.
Confucius says this because he believes that people should learn from those who are better than them. This moment implies that he also believes that, when surrounded by poorly behaved company, people change their behavior for the worse. In either case, he believes that one of the main ways people learn is through community.
Themes
