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Analects 6:2

Confucius said

Duke Ai said, “Which of your disciples loves hsueh ?”

Confucius said, “There was Yen Hui; he loved hsueh. He did not misdirect anger; he did not repeat mistakes. Unfortunately, his appointed time was short and he died; and now there is none—there is none I have heard of who loves hsueh.”


The Duke Ai asked which of the disciples loved to learn.

Confucius replied to him, “There was Yen Hui; he loved to learn. He did not transfer his anger; he did not repeat a fault. Unfortunately, his appointed time was short and he died; and now there is not [such another]. I have not yet heard of any one who loves to learn [as he did].” L


Duke Ai asked which disciples were fond of learning.
Confucius answered: “Yen Hui loved learning. His anger fell not astray; he made no mistake twice. By ill-luck his life was cut short. Now that he is gone, I hear of no one who is fond of learning.” H


When the duke Ngai inquired which of the disciples were devoted to learning, Confucius answered him, “There was one Yen Hwui who loved it, —a man whose angry feelings towards any particular person he did not suffer to visit upon another; a man who would never fall into the same error twice. Unfortunately his allotted time was short, and he died, and now his like is not to be found; I have never heard of one (so) devoted to learning.” J

Commentary

The chun tzu does not jump to erroneous conclusions; and if he knows he did something wrong, he will not do it again.