Quotation
Last reviewed:
“To learn and to practise from time to time what one has learned — is this not a pleasure?”
Confucius · Confucianism · Ancient · sayings collected after 479 BCE; text stabilised later
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that learning revisited and put to work is a pleasure, and the Analects chooses to begin there rather than with a command. A competing reading notes that the book is a later compilation, so the delight may be the school's ideal portrait of the Master, not a sentence he published. Analects 1.1 continues with friends arriving from far away, and with not being annoyed when unknown. Translators differ on whether the verb is review, practise, or apply.
Did Confucius really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. The Analects are a compilation, not a book Confucius published. This is a close, traditional English of the opening line. 'From time to time' renders a phrase translators handle differently (review, practise, apply).
Where it comes from
Analects 1.1
Approximate date: sayings collected after 479 BCE; text stabilised later.
How to use it
Take one thing you sat through in a training day and never used, a better way to open a difficult conversation, and practise it once this week on a real case. The pleasure he names is on the far side of that repetition. A certificate in a drawer is not yet the opening line of this book.
A mindset reading
Study without practice is unfinished, and practice without study is something he also criticises. The habit is to keep the pair together: learn, then revisit the learning in action, then notice whether the revisit was actually a pleasure or only a duty you claimed to enjoy.
Understand the philosophy
The saying answers what the Confucian life feels like at its start, not only what it demands. Xue is learning; the following verb is the timed return to what was learned. The book opens with joy, friendship, and a calm relation to reputation. That trio is the frame for the harder sayings about ritual and rightness.
- knowledge
- happiness
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that learning revisited and put to work is a pleasure, and the Analects chooses to begin there rather than with a command. A competing reading notes that the book is a later compilation, so the delight may be the school's ideal portrait of the Master, not a sentence he published. Analects 1.1 continues with friends arriving from far away, and with not being annoyed when unknown. Translators differ on whether the verb is review, practise, or apply.
Did Confucius really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. The Analects are a compilation, not a book Confucius published. This is a close, traditional English of the opening line. 'From time to time' renders a phrase translators handle differently (review, practise, apply).
Which work is it in?
Analects 1.1 Approximate date: sayings collected after 479 BCE; text stabilised later.