
“The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”
Bk. 14, Ch. 29 (p. 208)
Translations, The Confucian Analects
James Legge translation.
Variant translations: The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions.
The greater man does not boast of himself, But does what he must do.
A good man does not give orders, but leads by example.
The Analects, Chapter I, Chapter IV
君子欲訥於言而敏於行。
“The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”
Bk. 14, Ch. 29 (p. 208)
Translations, The Confucian Analects
The Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean
Context: Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues, and careful in speaking about them, if, in his practice, he has anything defective, the superior man dares not but exert himself; and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license. Thus his words have respect to his actions, and his actions have respect to his words; is it not just an entire sincerity which marks the superior man?
“The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.”
“A man's reach must exceed his grasp or what's a metaphor?”
A play on the line's in Robert Browning's poem "Andrea del Sarto":
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?
Source: 1960s, Understanding Media (1964), p.7
“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?”
"Andrea del Sarto", line 98.
Men and Women (1855)
Source: Men and Women and Other Poems
Vol. II, Ch. V Aphorisms and Extracts, p. 72.
Memoirs and Correspondence (1900)
“A fool is known by his Speech; and a wise man by Silence.”
The Sayings of the Wise (1555)
17 March 1748
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774)