Analects 9.6 · Zi Han
“In my youth I was of humble station, so I became skilled at many menial things. Must the exemplary person have many skills? No, not many.”
Meaning, context, and how to apply it today
吾少也賤 故多能鄙事 君子多乎哉 不多也 (wú shào yě jiàn, gù duō néng bǐ shì, jūn zǐ duō hū zāi, bù duō yě) means “In my youth I was of humble station, so I became skilled at many menial things. Must the exemplary person have many skills? No, not many.” It is a passage from the Analects of Confucius, Book 9 (Zi Han), Chapter 6.
吾少也賤 故多能鄙事 君子多乎哉 不多也
- Pinyin
- wú shào yě jiàn, gù duō néng bǐ shì, jūn zǐ duō hū zāi, bù duō yě
- Translation
- In my youth I was of humble station, so I became skilled at many menial things. Must the exemplary person have many skills? No, not many.
- Source
- Analects, Book 9 (Zi Han), Chapter 6
What does this passage mean?
The background of the sixth chapter of Zi Han is this. A high minister asked Zigong whether the Master was a sage, since he had so many abilities, and Zigong answered that Heaven had made him a sage and also gave him many abilities. Hearing this, Confucius corrected it: he had become skilled at many menial things only because he was of humble station in his youth. Confucius lost his father early and grew up poor, working as a keeper of granaries and livestock. He adds that the exemplary person need not have many skills. His refusal to mystify his own abilities, explaining them plainly as the result of a poor youth, is striking.
How can we apply it today?
Successful people tend either to embellish their past or to hide it. Confucius did neither. He said plainly that poverty had made him good at menial tasks, and he made clear that such miscellaneous skills were not the essence of the exemplary person. The list of skills on a résumé is not the measure of a person’s worth. There is no reason to be ashamed of abilities learned in hard times, and no reason to boast of them either. What matters is the person you became after passing through that experience. Those who can speak calmly about where they started are the ones with real confidence.
Questions to reflect on
- ·What abilities did you acquire in hard times?
- ·Are you embellishing or hiding your past?
- ·Between many skills and character, which are you cultivating more?
Character-by-character breakdown
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning | Strokes | Radical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 吾 | wú | I; me | 7 | 口 (mouth) |
| 少 | shào | young | 4 | 小 (small) |
| 也 | yě | grammatical particle | 3 | 乙 (second) |
| 賤 | jiàn | lowly | 15 | 貝 (shell) |
| 故 | gù | old; reason | 9 | 攴 (tap) |
| 多 | duō | many | 6 | 夕 (evening) |
| 能 | néng | capable | 10 | 肉 (meat) |
| 鄙 | bǐ | base | 13 | 邑 (city) |
| 事 | shì | affair | 8 | 亅 (hook) |
| 君 | jūn | ruler | 7 | 口 (mouth) |
| 子 | zǐ | son | 3 | 子 (child) |
| 多 | duō | many | 6 | 夕 (evening) |
| 乎 | hū | grammatical particle | 5 | 丿 (slash) |
| 哉 | zāi | grammatical particle | 9 | 口 (mouth) |
| 不 | bù | not | 4 | 一 (one) |
| 多 | duō | many | 6 | 夕 (evening) |
| 也 | yě | grammatical particle | 3 | 乙 (second) |
Frequently asked questions
Q. What does “In my youth I was of humble station, so I…” mean?
吾少也賤 故多能鄙事 君子多乎哉 不多也 (wú shào yě jiàn, gù duō néng bǐ shì, jūn zǐ duō hū zāi, bù duō yě) means “In my youth I was of humble station, so I became skilled at many menial things. Must the exemplary person have many skills? No, not many.” It comes from the Analects, Book 9 (Zi Han), Chapter 6.
Q. Where does this passage appear in the Analects?
It is Analects 9.6: Book 9 (Zi Han), Chapter 6.
Q. How can this teaching be applied today?
Successful people tend either to embellish their past or to hide it.Confucius did neither.