Quote
By Confucius
The superior man wishes to be slow in his words and earnest in his conduct.
- Source
- The Chinese Classics, vol. 1: Confucian Analects, translated by James Legge, 1861 · Analects 4.24, p. 86
- Read at
- Internet Archive (scan of the first edition, Hongkong: at the author's; London: Trubner & Co., 1861)
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About this quote
From the Analects, Analects 4.24 (Book IV, chapter XXIV), in James Legge's English translation (The Chinese Classics, vol. 1, Hongkong, 1861). Legge, not Confucius, chose the English words. The 1861 edition says "slow in his words"; Legge's 1893 revision changed this to "slow in his speech."