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仁者は憂えず jinsha wa ureezu The Benevolent Have No Worries

仁者は憂えず (jinsha wa ureezu), the humane are not anxious, is the middle clause of a three-clause line in the Analects. When Japanese writers cut the line to two clauses, this is the one most often let go. This study follows it from the Noh play Yashima to the Meiji schoolbooks, which set it first or alone.

Japanese Scroll of The Benevolent Have No Worries (jinsha wa ureezu) — Calligraphy by Eri Takase
The Benevolent Have No Worries仁者は憂えずjinsha wa ureezu

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Abstract

仁者は憂えず, jinsha wa ureezu, the humane are not anxious, is the middle clause of a line from the Analects of Confucius, between 知者は惑わず, the wise are not perplexed, and 勇者は懼れず, the brave are not afraid. The line stands twice in the canon: bare, as a saying, in book nine (子罕), where this clause is second, and framed as the Master's own confession in book fourteen (憲問), where it comes first. In Japan the whole line is quoted in the Tale of the Soga Brothers, a work of the fourteenth century, and when the line is cut to two clauses this is the one most often let go: the Noh play Yashima of about 1430, at least four plays of Chikamatsu from 1715 to 1722, and Itagaki Taisuke in 1882 keep the first and the third. It also stands alone and leads: a Muromachi dictionary enters 仁者不憂 by itself and puts it first in every longer entry of the line, an Edo proverb list of 1638 sets it first of the three, the Meiji schoolbooks quote it alone, and of the three clauses it is the one the modern dictionaries read here enter as a headword; and the reason the humane are not anxious is not in the line but in its readers, Zhu Xi's that reason overcomes self-interest, the modern Japanese dictionaries' that the humane rest in Heaven's decree.

Overview

The text. 知者は惑わず, chisha wa madowazu, the wise are not perplexed; 仁者は憂えず, jinsha wa ureezu, the humane are not anxious; 勇者は懼れず, yūsha wa osorezu, the brave are not afraid. Twelve Chinese characters in three clauses of four, 知者不惑，仁者不憂，勇者不懼, and a Japanese sentence that reads each clause aloud with a subject, a particle and a negative verb; the line stands twice in the canon, and the two places disagree on the order [1][2].

The sense. The clause names the humane one by what humaneness removes: anxiety. The oldest commentary, Kong Anguo's in He Yan's 論語集解, says only 無憂患也, has no cares or troubles [3]. Zhu Xi gives each clause a reason, 明足以燭理，故不惑；理足以勝私，故不憂；氣足以配道義，故不懼, and for this one reason is enough to overcome self-interest, and so there is no anxiety, calling the three 學之序, the order of learning [4]. His reason is the one the 大字典 of 1920 passes on: 仁者は理を以て私を制す、故に憂へざるなり, the humane rule self-interest by reason, and so are not anxious [5]. The modern Japanese dictionaries give another because: デジタル大辞泉 仁者は心がおおらかで天命に安んじているから、何事にも心配することがない, the humane are large-hearted and at peace with Heaven's decree, so nothing worries them, and 精選版日国 心がひろく天命に安んじるから, because they are broad of heart and rest in Heaven's decree [6]. The 1922 study quoted below joins the two, 天命を知り仁に安んじて, knows Heaven's decree and rests in humaneness [7]; Sun Chuo, in Slingerland's selection, has One who is at ease in Goodness is constant in his joy, and therefore is free of anxiety [8], a note that survives in Huang Kan's 論語義疏 [9], and Slingerland reads the clause beside 12.4, where the Good are free of worry because they examine themselves inwardly and find nothing to fault [8]. Lau's note to his never worries is about the future [10]. The reasons are the readers'; the line says only that the humane are not anxious. What varies is where the clause stands. Book nine puts knowledge first and gives the clauses bare; book fourteen puts humaneness first and gives them as the three things the Master says he cannot do. Arthur Waley, in 1938, called the book-nine order a mere slip corrected by book fourteen [11]; the 1935 Japanese lecturer took the same order as Confucius putting knowledge first [12]. The Japanese editions read here print both places as they stand, and the dictionaries cite book nine as the source. The three are a triad well before any of these: Itō Jinsai reads the line through the three universal virtues, 達德, of the Doctrine of the Mean [13], and a 1911 study and the 1935 volume both call them 知仁勇の三德, the three virtues of knowledge, humaneness and courage [14][12].

The words. 仁 is humaneness, which デジタル大辞泉 calls 儒教における最高徳目, the highest of the Confucian virtues, citing 「智・仁・勇」, and 精選版日国 孔子の道徳の根本原理, the root principle of Confucius's morality, adding in its note on the word that Confucius held it to take in knowledge and courage, 知と勇とをかねそなえ [15]; D. C. Lau calls wisdom and courage two virtues which are often mentioned together with benevolence [10]. 仁者 is the one who has it, read じんしゃ; 精選版日国 quotes the word romanized as Iinxa in the Jesuit mission's Aesop of 1593 [16]. Legge renders it virtuous here and benevolent elsewhere, and Waley really Good with a capital [17][11]. 憂う is to be anxious, to sorrow; デジタル大辞泉's first sense of the noun 憂い is 予測される悪い事態に対する心配, worry over a bad turn one foresees [18], which is Lau's about the future. The modern form is 憂えず; the Japanese witnesses read here that were printed before 1946 write 憂へず; and in kana the dictionary's quotation of the Soga tale has しんしゃはうれゑず [6], the copies of the tale of 1627 and 1646 じんしやはうれへず [19][20]. The line as words: the one who knows is not at a loss; the humane one is not anxious; the brave one is not afraid.

The text in English. The English tradition begins with James Legge's translation of 1861, which the Chinese Text Project prints beside the Chinese [1][17]; William Edward Soothill's of 1910 sets Legge beside Zottoli's Latin, Ku Hung-ming's English and Couvreur's French in its notes [21]; Arthur Waley's of 1938 silently restores the book-fourteen order and argues for it in a footnote [11]. Six translations since carry the line forward: D. C. Lau in 1979, Roger T. Ames and Henry Rosemont in 1998, Edward Slingerland in 2003, Burton Watson in 2007, David Hinton in 2013 and Annping Chin in 2014 [10][22][8][23][24][25]. The editions number the two places differently: the bare saying is IX.28 in Legge, Soothill and Waley, 9.29 in Lau, Ames, Slingerland, Hinton and Chin, and 9:30 in Watson; the framed passage is XIV.30 in Legge, Soothill, Waley and Watson, and 14.28 in the rest. For 憂, Legge's anxiety runs through Soothill, Ames and Rosemont and Watson; Lau, Slingerland and Hinton have worry, Chan no worry, Alexander sorrows, Waley unhappy, Giles care in 1907 and vexed in 1909, Chin vexation; and for 仁者 the words run from Legge's virtuous through benevolent, Waley's and Slingerland's Good, Chan's humanity and the humane of Watson, Hinton and Chin, to Ames and Rosemont's authoritative [26].

The historical record

The Analects, book nine (子罕). The three clauses stand alone, as a saying: 子曰：「知者不惑，仁者不憂，勇者不懼。」 Legge: The Master said, "The wise are free from perplexities; the virtuous from anxiety; and the bold from fear." This is the order the Japanese dictionaries cite as the source of all three proverbs [1][6].

The Analects, book fourteen (憲問). The same three clauses, framed and in a different order: 子曰：「君子道者三，我無能焉：仁者不憂，知者不惑，勇者不懼。」子貢曰：「夫子自道也。」 Legge: The Master said, "The way of the superior man is threefold, but I am not equal to it. Virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear." Zi Gong said, "Master, that is what you yourself say." Here humaneness comes first and the Master says he manages none of the three; his disciple answers that he has just described himself [2].

Fourteenth to fifteenth century. The Tale of the Soga Brothers (曾我物語), book one, in its kana text. The dictionaries' first citation for the line as a Japanese sentence, and it is already a saying: 知者はまどはず、しんしゃはうれゑず、勇者(よふしゃ)はおそれずと申せども, though they say the one who knows does not waver, the humane one does not grieve, the brave one does not fear. All three clauses stand, the verbs in kana, and と申せども, though it is said, which is how a proverb is quoted [6]. The dictionary dates the work to about the fourteenth century; the words it quotes are the kana text's, which the encyclopedia's entry takes to be a revision made near Kyoto in the early Muromachi period [27]. Two copies of the seventeenth century carry the line at the leaf, in the hunting scene where the brothers' father, Kawazu Saburō, struck by an arrow from ambush, takes up his bow again, sets an arrow, turns his horse and looks all about him: one the National Diet Library catalogues as 1627, and a print of 1646, both reading this clause じんしやはうれへず [19][20]. Both mark the voicing of じん, which the dictionary's quotation leaves unvoiced, and both spell the verb うれへず.

About 1430. The Noh play Yashima (八島). The dictionaries' first citation for the 智者 spelling, and the first witness that quotes the line in pieces: 智者は惑はす、勇者は懼れずの、彌猛心(やたけごころ)の梓弓, the wise do not waver, the brave do not fear: the fierce heart, the catalpa bow. This clause is dropped, and the third is turned into a pivot on the warrior's heart [28]. The typeset texts of 1896 and 1927 print 勇者は恐れず where the dictionary's quotation has 懼れず [29][30]. The 謡抄, the commentary on the Noh texts compiled in 1595, read here in a print of the Keichō years, takes 智者ハマトハス勇者ハヲソレス as its headword and glosses it 智者不惑勇者不懼論語ニアリ, it is in the Analects, without the clause the play leaves out [31].

Later fifteenth century. The 文明本節用集. A manuscript of the 節用集, the Muromachi dictionary 日国 dates before the 文明 era (1469–87), enters this clause by itself, 仁者不憂, read ジンシヤハウレヱズ; with the third clause alone, 仁者不憂勇者不懼, the line without knowledge; the whole line in the book-fourteen order, 仁者不憂智者不惑勇者不懼; and the book-fourteen passage whole, 子曰君子道者三我无能焉仁者不憂智者不惑勇者不懼. Every entry of more than one clause opens with humaneness, as book fourteen does. They are read here in the index to its 1970 facsimile [32][33].

1638 to 1907. The clause alone, and first. The 毛吹草, the haikai handbook of 松江重頼 with a preface of 1638, sets the three clauses down as three proverbs one after another, this one first, 仁者憂へず, glossed with the Analects, 論語、智者不惑、仁者不憂、勇者不懼, then 智者は惑はず and 勇者は懼れず, as 藤井乙男's 1929 reprint of its proverb list prints them [34]. In the Meiji schoolbooks it stands alone and leads. 中根淑's grammar of 1876 uses 仁者ハ憂ヘズ by itself as an example of the particle ハ, beside 仁者ハ壽 [35]; 西村茂樹's ethics primer 小学修身訓, of 1880, gives the line in the book-fourteen order, ○仁者ハ憂ヘズ。智者ハ惑ハズ。勇者ハ懼レズ, in its chapter on setting one's will, 立志 [36]; and a reader of 1883 sets ○仁者は憂へず alone, credited to Confucius, between 智者は樂み仁者は壽し and 樂んで以て憂ひを忘る [37]. A collection of maxims of 1892, arranged by their number of characters, lists 知者不惑, 仁者不憂 and 勇者不懼 as three separate entries among its four-character sayings [38], and a book of sermon material of 1907 opens the line with this clause, ⊙仁者は憂へず、智者は惑はず、勇者は懼れず [39].

1672. Kumazawa Banzan 熊沢蕃山 (1619–1691), 集義和書, book ten, in the typeset of 1901. The Yōmeigaku scholar quotes the line in Japanese and in another order of his own, knowledge, courage, humaneness, this clause last, and glosses each: 知者はまどはず。勇者はをそれず。仁者はうれへず。知は明の至なり。勇は義の德なり。仁は生の精なり。此故に仁者はいのちながし, the one who knows does not waver; the brave one does not fear; the humane one does not grieve. Knowledge is the height of clarity, courage the virtue of rightness, humaneness the essence of life; and so the humane live long [40][41].

1683 to 1705. Itō Jinsai 伊藤仁斎 (1627–1705), 語孟字義, in its appended essay 大學非孔氏之遺書辨, in the typeset of 1901. The Kyoto Confucian, arguing that the Great Learning is not a work of Confucius's school, sets the line beside the Master's four subjects as the whole of his teaching on progress in learning: 又曰。知者不惑。仁者不憂。勇者不懼。明此三者天下之達德。而進學之叙無出於此者也, He also said: the wise are not perplexed, the humane are not anxious, the brave are not afraid. This makes clear that these three are the universal virtues of the world, and that the order of advancing in learning goes no further than them [13]. Jinsai reads the book-nine order through the 中庸's three 達德, wisdom, humaneness and courage, and the modern English of his essay renders the line A person of wisdom has no doubts; a humane person, no worries; a courageous person, no fears [42].

1715 to 1722, and one play undated. Chikamatsu Monzaemon 近松門左衛門 (1653–1725). The two-clause proverb in at least four of his plays, and each time without this clause. In 持統天皇歌軍法, first staged in 1715, the prince, shaken, cries it over a man who has died glaring at him: 智者は惑はず勇者は懼れず。冥路黃泉に到つても義有る勇者(ゆうしや)の忠を見よ, the wise do not waver, the brave do not fear: even on the dark road to the Yellow Springs, see the loyalty of a brave man who has rightness [43]. 文武五人男, which the 1896 editor could not date, opens its fourth part on it: 智者は惑はず。勇者は恐れぬならひとかや, the wise do not waver, and the brave, they say, are not afraid [44]. In 聖徳太子絵伝記, first staged in 1717, it comes at the moment the prince's arrow strikes Mononobe no Moriya: はつしと立つ、智者は惑はず、勇者は恐れず [45]. 心中宵庚申, 1722, the third act, in the typeset of 1944. Spoken in the lovers' journey of a jōruri: ちしやはまどはずゆうしやはおそれぬ, the wise do not waver, the brave do not fear, which the edition's note refers to the Analects [46]. C. Andrew Gerstle's English of 2001: The wise do not waver, nor do the brave know fear [47].

1882. Itagaki Taisuke 板垣退助 (1837–1919), a speech on liberty, in the English of the Japan Weekly Mail of April 15, 1882. The proverb form in a political speech, translated as it was given, again without this clause: There is reason in all things. 'The wise man does not hesitate: the brave man does not fear.' Although there are many obstacles on that waste land of liberty which we are anxious to reclaim with your aid, yet staunch toil with hoe and plough will remove them all [48]. The same translation was reprinted in Walter Wallace McLaren's collection of Meiji government documents in 1914 [49]. The line had become, by then, a thing a statesman could quote in a stump speech and a newspaper could print in English without a gloss.

1907. 大江文城, 『儒教聖典』, a Meiji canon in Japanese. Both passages as a Meiji reader met them, a vernacular reading followed by the original and the chapter name. Book nine: 子のたまはく、知者は惑はず、仁者は憂へず、勇者は懼れず。〔原文〕子曰、知者不惑、仁者不憂、勇者不懼。((子罕)). Book fourteen: 君子の道三あるも我は能くするものなし。仁者は憂へず、知者は惑はず、勇者は懼れずと。子貢曰く、夫子自ら道ひ玉ふなりと。 The reading is the modern standard, character for character but for the kana [50].

1911 to 1935. Four books on Confucius. A 1911 study of Confucius and his teaching quotes the book-fourteen form and names its chapter, 「憲問篇」, and later calls the three 知仁勇の三德 [14]. A 1922 study numbers the book-nine line among the Master's sayings and glosses each clause: 知者は理を見る事明かで能く理非曲直を辯ずるから物事に惑はない。仁者は心寛かで天命を知り仁に安んじて其の樂を改めないから憂がない。勇者は、果斷義を見て必ず爲す剛毅の心がある故に物事に懼れない, the one who knows sees reason clearly and can tell right from wrong and crooked from straight, and so is not perplexed by things; the humane one is large-hearted, knows Heaven's decree, rests in humaneness and does not change his joy, and so has no anxiety; the brave one has the resolute and unbending heart that sees what is right and does it, and so fears nothing [7]. A 1928 vernacular Analects prints the line in book nine in the canon's order [51]; and a 1935 memorial volume for a teacher reads that order as a ranking: 孔子は、「知者は惑はず」と第一に知をおき、それから「仁者は憂へず。勇者は懼れず。」と、知仁勇の三德を述べました, Confucius put knowledge first, "the one who knows does not waver," and then set out the three virtues of knowledge, humaneness and courage [12]. Slingerland reads the framed form as a commonly cited maxim in the Confucian school by the time of book fourteen, and quotes Zhu Xi: The Master here criticizes himself in order to urge on others [8]. The National Diet Library's full-text search finds 仁者は憂へず, in the older spelling, in 265 of the public-domain books it reaches, dated 1883 to 1963 [52]; its digital library's full text, which also reaches books readable only in Japan, returns 1,296 items for the same words, the oldest the grammar of 1876 [53].

What is not a source. Nothing is set beside this line as a parallel; it is a canon line with an author, not a folk saying with parallels. The two places in the Analects are one text at two addresses, not two sources.

The three lines in English

1861. James Legge, The Chinese Classics, volume 1, the Analects, book IX. The wise are free from perplexities; the virtuous from anxiety; and the bold from fear. Three subjects, three abstract nouns [1]. Legge numbers the bare saying book IX chapter XXVIII and the framed passage book XIV chapter XXX, and his note to the second cross-refers: We have the greatest part of this par. in IX. 28, but the translation must be somewhat different [1][17]. Of the English below, perplexities or perplexed for 惑 is kept by the compilations that copy Legge and by Waley, Chan, Watson and Chin; the other translations each find a word of their own.

1882. Confucius and the Chinese Classics, compiled by A. W. Loomis, San Francisco. Legge's book-fourteen sentence carried into a popular reader, word for word: The way of the superior man is three-fold, but I am not equal to it. Virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear [54]. Loomis, Dawson in 1915 and Stevenson in 1944, the three compilations read here, all carry Legge.

1883. Wilhelm Lobscheid's English and Chinese Dictionary, revised and enlarged in Tokyo by 井上哲次郎. Legge's book-nine sentence word for word, The wise are free from perplexities; the virtuous from anxiety; and the bold from fear, tagged (C. A.), the Confucian Analects, beside 知者不惑，仁者不憂，勇者不懼, in a numbered list of sayings [55]. A dictionary printed in Tokyo gives the line in Legge's English.

1890. George Gardiner Alexander, Confucius, the Great Teacher, London. Under the heading On perfect qualities, a rendering of his own: The wise have no doubts. The virtuous no sorrows. The brave no fears [56]. Doubts for 惑 and sorrows for 憂 are, among the renderings of the Analects read here, the first to depart from Legge's perplexities and anxiety.

1906. Robert Kennaway Douglas, Confucianism and Taouism, London. Legge's sentence turned into the Master's own disclaimer: "I am not virtuous enough," he said, "to be free from anxieties; not wise enough to be free from perplexities; and not bold enough to be free from fear" [57].

1907. Lionel Giles, The Sayings of Confucius, Wisdom of the East, John Murray, London. The book-fourteen form: He is truly benevolent, and is free from care; he is truly wise, and is free from delusions; he is truly brave, and is free from fear.—Nay, replied Tzu Kung, these virtues are our Master's own; and in the printing of 1909 the book-nine form: The wise are free from doubt; love is never vexed; the bold have no fears [26]. Giles is the one translator on this page who prints delusions for 惑, and his love for 仁 is his own.

1910. William Edward Soothill, The Analects of Confucius, Shansi (Paragon reprint, New York, 1968), book IX chapter XXVIII, p. 456, and book XIV chapter XXX, pp. 688–689. The Master said: "The enlightened are free from doubt, the Virtuous are free from anxiety, and the brave from fear." and, framed, "There are three characteristics of the noble man's life, to which I cannot lay claim: being Virtuous he is free from care; possessing knowledge he is free from doubts; being courageous he is free from fear." "That is what you yourself say," said Tzu Kung. His notes set the earlier translators side by side, Legge, then Zottoli's Latin, prudens non ambigit, perfectus etc. fortes etc., Ku Hung-ming, Men of intelligence are free from doubts, and Couvreur, Un homme éclairé et prudent n'hesite pas [21].

1915. Miles Menander Dawson, The Ethics of Confucius, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, page 56. Legge's book-fourteen sentence under the heading Fearlessness, which Dawson says Confucius ever named as an attribute of the superior man [58].

1938. Arthur Waley, The Analects of Confucius, Macmillan (Vintage printing, 1989), book IX section 28, p. 144, and book XIV section 30, p. 188. The Master said, he that is really Good can never be unhappy. He that is really wise can never be perplexed. He that is really brave is never afraid. Waley silently restores the book-fourteen order, Goodness first, and says why in his footnote: In the original the first two clauses have become transposed. This is, however, a mere slip, as is shown by comparison with the parallel passage, XIV, 30, adding that Confucius always ranks courage below wisdom and wisdom below Goodness. At book XIV, section 30, he gives the framed form: The Master said, the Ways of the true gentleman are three. I myself have met with success in none of them. For he that is really Good is never unhappy, he that is really wise is never perplexed, he that is really brave is never afraid, Tzu-kung said, That, Master, is your own Way! His note on the disciple's reply: Usually taken as referring to Confucius's disclaimer ('I myself have met with success in none,' etc.) and meaning, 'So you yourself say; (but we know that is only due to your modesty, and do not take your words literally).' [11]

1944. Burton Egbert Stevenson, The Home Book of Quotations, fourth edition, under Man. Legge's book-fourteen sentence, credited Confucius, Analects. Bk. xiv, ch. 30 [59]. Of the two quotation dictionaries read here, Stevenson's carries Legge and the Oxford of 2014 carries Chan.

1963. Wing-tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton University Press, page 42. The book-fourteen form, 14:30: The way of the superior man is threefold, but I have not been able to attain it. The man of wisdom has no perplexities; the man of humanity has no worry; the man of courage has no fear [60]. Humanity for 仁 is Chan's, and it is the rendering the Oxford quotation dictionary took over.

1979. D. C. Lau, The Analects, Penguin, IX.29 and XIV.28. The man of wisdom is never in two minds; the man of benevolence never worries; the man of courage is never afraid, with the notes about right and wrong, to the first clause, and about the future, to the second; and There are three things constantly on the lips of the gentleman none of which I have succeeded in following: "A man of benevolence never worries; a man of wisdom is never in two minds; a man of courage is never afraid." Tzu-kung said, 'What the Master has just quoted is a description of himself.' [10]

1993. Onuma Hideharu 大沼英治 with Dan and Jackie DeProspero, Kyudo: The Essence and Practice of Japanese Archery, Kodansha International, page 21. The line quoted by a master of Japanese archery as an old proverb: A wise man is never puzzled, a benevolent man is never troubled, and a courageous man is never afraid, glossed It means we must believe in ourselves [61]. A Japanese use of the line, given in English.

1998. Roger T. Ames and Henry Rosemont, Jr., The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation, Ballantine, 9.29 and 14.28. The wise (zhi) are not in a quandary; the authoritative (ren) are not anxious; the courageous are not timid; and The path (dao) of the exemplary person (junzi) has three conditions that I am unable to find in myself: The authoritative (ren) are not anxious; the wise (zhi) are not in a quandary; the courageous are not timid. Zigong replied, This is the path that you yourself walk, sir [22].

2003. Edward Slingerland, Confucius: Analects, with Selections from Traditional Commentaries, Hackett, 9.29 and 14.28, p. 166. The wise are not confused, the Good do not worry, and the courageous do not fear; his commentary quotes Sun Chuo, The wise are able to clearly distinguish between things, and therefore are not anxious. One who is at ease in Goodness is constant in his joy, and therefore is free of anxiety, and Miao Xie on the courageous, sees what is right to do and does it, without being intimidated by physical force or threats; and on 14.28, The description of the threefold Way of the gentleman here is a repeat of 9.29, and by the time of Book Fourteen may have become a commonly cited maxim in the Confucian school [8].

2007. Burton Watson, The Analects of Confucius, Columbia University Press, book 9 section 30 and book 14 section 30. The wise are never perplexed; the humane, never anxious; the brave, never afraid; and The Way of the gentleman has three characteristics that are still beyond me. The humane are never anxious; the wise, never perplexed; the brave, never afraid. Zigong said, Master, that is your own Way, with the endnote Almost identical to 9:30 [23].

2013. David Hinton, The Four Chinese Classics, Counterpoint, book 9 section 29 and book 14 section 28. The wise never doubt. The Humane never worry. The brave never fear. and "But that," protested Adept Kung, "is precisely the Way you've mastered." [24]

2014. Annping Chin, The Analects, Penguin, 9.29 and 14.28. The wise are never perplexed. The humane never suffer from vexation. The brave are never afraid., with Liu Baonan's gloss, examine all things with clear eyes and so they are not perplexed, and Mencius on supreme courage; and on 14.28, against the tradition that reads the Master's disclaimer as modesty, Qian Mu's view that only when a person perceives himself in this way will he keep on going [25].

2014. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, eighth edition, edited by Elizabeth Knowles, page 234. Under Confucius, Chan's book-fourteen sentence word for word, The man of wisdom has no perplexities; the man of humanity has no worry; the man of courage has no fear, credited Analects ch. 14, v. 30 [62].

Today. デジタル大辞泉 and 精選版日国 both carry 仁者は憂えず as a headword of its own, marked 「論語」子罕から, from the Analects, book nine, with the reason given above [6]; at kotobank it is the one clause of the three that stands alone as a headword, as 仁者不憂 stood under 仁 in the 大字典 of 1920 [5]. What a rendering must keep is the shape all three clauses share: one kind of person, and the one thing that person is free of.

A reading

仁者は憂えず is the clause the Japanese most often let go when they cut the line to two, and the one they most readily set first or alone: the 文明本節用集 opens every longer entry with it, the 毛吹草 lists it first, the Meiji schoolbooks quote it by itself, and at kotobank today it is the only clause of the three with a headword of its own. Book nine sets it second and book fourteen first, and Waley, ranking courage below wisdom and wisdom below Goodness, moves it to the head of the line in his English. I read the clause as the line gives it, the humane are not anxious, and hold the reasons as the readers': Zhu Xi's reason is enough to overcome self-interest, which the 大字典 of 1920 passes on, and the modern dictionaries' they rest in Heaven's decree. Both are good reasons, and neither is among the four characters.

References

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Authors

Tim Jackowski (Systems Architect, Takase Studios, LLC) · 典 Ten (Anthropic Claude Fable 5.1 and Opus 5.5, Takase Studios, LLC)

AI written · Ten wrote the history. Tim Jackowski commissioned it and answers for it.

Checked · Claude Sonnet (Anthropic), 2026-09-14, citations of the grouped history of the three clauses this page was split from — every item tested at its address; many resolve cleanly; a couple show minor snippet artifacts; the record's own character count for one quoted phrase was found wrong and corrected; the rest, all URLs, not openable

Cite as: Tim Jackowski and Ten, "Philology of 仁者は憂えず (jinsha wa ureezu)," Takase Studios, 2026, https://takase.com/library/philology/jinsha-wa-ureezu.