Q0137

Confucius

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

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.
Thinker Confucius
School Confucianism
Source Analects, Shu Er
Theme Learning
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Analects, Shu Er, 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 learning, 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: 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. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0137

MLA: Confucius. “The Master said: When three people walk together,….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0137.

Chicago: Confucius. “The Master said: When three people walk together,….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0137.

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: 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.
  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 learning

  1. Leisure without study is death — a tomb for a living man.
  2. 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?
  3. Zengzi said: Each day I examine myself on three counts: In acting on behalf of others, have I been loyal? In dealings with friends, have I been trustworthy? Have I practiced what was passed on to me?
  4. The Master said: Those who know it are not equal to those who love it; those who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.
  5. Indigo is taken from the indigo plant, yet is bluer than the plant; ice is made of water, yet is colder than water.

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