It’s sad to see.Īnd this book pushes against such a defeatist mindset, it argues through strength of virtue that we can become more contended with life.

People give up all too easy and settle for less. They ended up in a dead-end job when they could have done so much more with themselves had they the will and the drive to succeed and become the best version of themselves. They quit school or they didn’t put any effort into work. Growing up, I had some real intelligent friends who could have gone on to do wonderful things, but they were too lazy to exercise themselves (physically and mentally) to achieve what they ought to have done. I’ve met so many people in my life that never reached their potential or realised it. And in a way, that’s the main drive behind these teachings: self-improvement. It’s a noble pursuit, forever trying to learn and improve and become the best you possible. “Is it not indeed a pleasure to acquire knowledge and constantly to exercise oneself therein?” Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines.

This edition contains a detailed introduction exploring the concepts of the original work, a bibliography and glossary and appendices on Confucius himself, The Analects and the disciples who compiled them.įor more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. And, while following the Way, or the truth, might not result in immediate or material gain, Confucius showed that it could nevertheless bring its own powerful and lasting spiritual rewards. Upholding the ideals of wisdom, self-knowledge, courage and love of one’s fellow man, he argued that the pursuit of virtue should be every individual’s supreme goal. Together they express a philosophy, or a moral code, by which Confucius, one of the most humane thinkers of all time, believed everyone should live. The Analects are a collection of Confucius’s sayings brought together by his pupils shortly after his death in 497 BC. ‘The Master said, “If a man sets his heart on benevolence, he will be free from evil”’

The analects meaning