Analects
by James Legge, Confucius · first published 2018
22% recommend76% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Short, aphoristic sayings on ethics, learning and leadership that read as more direct than Plato; often recommended as an accessible starting point for ancient Chinese philosophy and for learning to think.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Top 5 books I've offered (and still offer): 1. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (translated by Gia-Fu Feng) 2. The Analects by Confucius (translated by Annping Chin) 3. This Is Water by David Foster Wallace 4. 3 years of Mini Stories - 36 short stories to read quickly, and think slowly — written by me. 5. As Causas do Atraso…
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗…particular hero of mine. Asian Literary canon may include: 、Pre-Imperial and Early Imperial (Before 220AD): The Book of Songs, edited by Confucius The Spring and Autumn Annals, edited by Confucius The Analects, by Confucius Mencius, by Mencius The Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu Chuang Tzu, by Chuang Tzu The Songs of the South, by Qu Yuan Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian 二、Mid Imperial and High Imperial…
on “Are 'Great Books' Obsolete?” ↗I read the Analects of Confucius. It's a good one because like Gilgamesh it was created outside of the constant necessary glorified warfare world of the Old Testament and the Iliad and the Odyssey. There's so much conflict…
on “Why Are Hundreds of Harvard Students Studying Ancient Chinese Philosophy?” ↗Which books do you think created the best Perfect/Utopia worlds? or others not list here? 540 BC - 400 BC, Analects of Confucius, Confucius 380 BC, Republic, Plato 1516, Utopia, Thomas More 1602, The City of the Sun, Campanella 1726, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift 1848, The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and…
on “Ask HN: Which books do you think created the best Perfect/Utopia worlds?” ↗Kudos for this accurate and relevant Confucius quote, it is rare nowadays. In fact, reading this guy's Analects, you'd find a mine of secular wisdom aphorism that sound obvious but are all the more urgent to remember by the times running.
on “Forced Exposure” ↗…on Livy", which mixes politcal philosophy lessons with Roman historical examples. I'd recommend Plato's "The Republic". "Mencius" (self-titled work by the Confucian philosopher) and maybe Confucius's "Analects" for political philosophy and leadership. For warfare and strategy, other posters have already said Carl Von Clauswitz's "On War" which is pretty much the gold standard of modern military thought publications…
on “What we get wrong about Machiavelli” ↗There's a good book called "What Confucius Really Said" that takes the Analects of Confucius and just puts it in a modern idiom. I think in general, the Analects comes off as more Tweet-like than anything in Plato. Plato is more of a playwright who characters go on unrealistically…
on “Would Plato tweet? The Ancient Greek guide to social media” ↗I got into Confucius (Analects), Mencius, Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching) and Zuangzi (aka Chuang Tzu) as a teenager. They're the giants of ancient Chinese philosophy, all very readable. After that I got into western philosophy, but I'm so…
on “Japanese Philosophies That'll Help You Spend Money Consciously” ↗If you want books that can help you learn to think, you can't do better than the classics. I suggest Plato's dialogs or the Analects of Confucius. You may find them more accessible than you expect. They were excellent teachers. Here's a good translation of Plato by Benjamin Jowett: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/plato-the-dialogues-of-pl...…
on “Ask HN: How to Learn 'To Think'?” ↗The Analects of Confucius
on “Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.” ↗…agree with Confucian philosophy) Confucian philosophy had influenced Chinese culture for several millennial, and the oral tradition was that Confucius (Kong Tzu) himself distilled what went into the Analects from much older rites and cultures. The basic idea here is that humans don't start out as humans, and require socialization to uplift them and refine their spirit to that of "human". To accomplish this…
on “China to bar people with bad 'social credit' from planes, trains” ↗…it. There are more great works of literature than we have time to read; why read anything less? (There are reasons, but you get my point.) Examples: * In the last few years I decided to read Confucius' Analects, an obvious example of a high-value book - why read about it and about Chinese culture when I can just read the Master himself? - but which translation? Great writers are subtle and likely have a breadth…
on “The Need to Read” ↗I'm struck by how much this echoes Confucius and the Analects and how they define the so-called gentleman or noble man (not to be confused with nobleman, and translation is hard). Given how unlikely it is that Chekhov had exposure to either, it's incredible to observe…
on “Chekhov: “Cultured people must, in my opinion, satisfy the following conditions”” ↗…It's hard to take the article seriously when it opens like this, because it makes a binary distinction between literature and religion. It's trivially obvious that this isn't the case: for example, the Analects of Confucius, a work that's deeply intertwined with the spiritual practices of ancient China (see Puett's excellent To Become a God.) Not "fictional" enough? How about the even earlier Classic of Poetry,…
on “Has Literature Ever Changed the Course of History?” ↗…enjoy appearances but do not apprehend deeper truth. The text says their thought is “incapable” of grasping the underlying form or nature of beauty, and that few attain that deeper vision. [5] Confucius, Analects, Book 2 — 5th c. BCE China. https://www.chinastory.cn/ywdbk/english/v1/detail/20190722/1.... "Learning without thought is pointless, Thought without learning is dangerous". [6] Buddhist tradition, Dhammapada,…
on “Leave Me Behind” ↗