Q0172
Wang Yangming
A verified English rendering from the curated archive.
English
There has never been one who truly knows and yet does not act. If one knows but does not act, that is simply not yet knowing.
Source context
This English passage is associated with Instructions for Practical Living, Juan Shang, within the tradition of Neo-Confucianism (School of Mind). 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 Wang Yangming'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: Wang Yangming. (n.d.). There has never been one who truly knows and yet does not act. If one knows but does not act, that is simply not yet knowing. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0172
MLA: Wang Yangming. “There has never been one who truly knows….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0172.
Chicago: Wang Yangming. “There has never been one who truly knows….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0172.