Q0144

“The Master said: Those who know it are not equal to those…” — Confucius (Analects 6.20)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: Analects 6.20. Theme: learning.

English

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.
Thinker Confucius
School Confucianism
Source Analects 6.20
Theme Learning
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Analects 6.20 and files it under Confucianism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Confucius

Confucius (Kong Qiu, 551–479 BCE) taught in the late Spring and Autumn period amid the Zhou order’s political fragmentation. Born in the state of Lu, he briefly held local office and then spent years seeking rulers who would adopt ritual-based, virtue-centered government.

Interpretation

Confucius ranks three relations to a pursuit: knowing it, loving it, and delighting in it. The claim is that each is a genuine advance on the previous, and that the last is not intensity but a change in what the activity is for — it has become its own point. In the Analects this belongs to his repeated insistence that learning not be undertaken for external reward. The ranking is a diagnosis of why effort fails.

Why it matters

It gives a way to assess engagement: are you doing this because of what it leads to, or because of the doing? The difference shows under difficulty.

Concepts in this quote

Learning
Learning is philosophy’s practical twin: how judgment is formed through study, error, dialogue, and habit.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Confucius. (n.d.). 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. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0144

MLA: Confucius. “The Master said: Those who know it are….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0144.

Chicago: Confucius. “The Master said: Those who know it are….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0144.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “The Master said: Those who know it are…”?

The passage is attributed to Confucius, Analects 6.20. The archive attributes this English wording to Analects 6.20 and files it under Confucianism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Confucius mean by learning?

Education is not only information transfer; it is the shaping of attention and character. Confucian learning, Socratic midwifery, and Deweyan growth offer rival models. This passage enters that discussion through learning.

Explore Confucius on learning

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 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.
  5. The Master said: When you see the worthy, think of equaling them; when you see the unworthy, examine yourself within.

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. 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. 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?
  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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