Q0136

Confucius

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

The Master said: You, shall I teach you what knowing is? To know what you know, and to know what you do not know — that is true knowing.
Thinker Confucius
School Confucianism
Source Analects, Wei Zheng
Theme Knowledge
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Analects, Wei Zheng, within the tradition of Confucianism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of knowledge, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Confucius's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Confucius. (n.d.). The Master said: You, shall I teach you what knowing is? To know what you know, and to know what you do not know — that is true knowing. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0136

MLA: Confucius. “The Master said: You, shall I teach you….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0136.

Chicago: Confucius. “The Master said: You, shall I teach you….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0136.

Same thinker

More from Confucius

  1. The Master said: Is it not a pleasure to learn and to practice what one has learned in due time? Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar? Is it not the mark of a gentleman to remain unresentful when others fail to appreciate one?
  2. The Master said: What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.
  3. The Master said: When three people walk together, one of them is sure to be my teacher. I select what is good in them and follow it; what is not good, I correct in myself.
  4. The Master said: When you see the worthy, think of equaling them; when you see the unworthy, examine yourself within.
  5. The Master said: If one hears the Way in the morning, one may die content that evening.

All quotations by Confucius

Same theme

More on knowledge

  1. What I do not know, I do not claim to know.
  2. No one errs willingly.
  3. What then is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I wish to explain it to one who asks, I do not know.
  4. What do I know?
  5. Once in a lifetime, everything must be doubted.

Browse the knowledge theme