The Chinese sage is often credited with a phrase on how important it is to find a lesson to their liking. We checked whether such an attribution is correct.
This supposedly quote of Confucius can be found on numerous sites with aphorisms, among which Citaty.net, Citaty.info, Socratify.net, "Pearls of thought" And Aforizm.org. Some of them are given another formulation of this expression: “Choose your job to your liking, and you will not have to work a single day in your life.” Both of them are very Popular Users of social networks who use the phrase in statuses. The statement is attributed to the philosopher and some public million-pluses on VKontakte: for example, "Psychology", "5 smart thoughts", "How did I meet tetanus" and others. It was as a quote from Confucius that this phrase was used in their social networks and several Russian celebrities: for example, a journalist and a TV presenter Evelina Khromchenko, singer Anna Pletneva And a comedian Ekaterina Skulkina.
We were not able to find this quote in any of the authoritative academic publications dedicated to Confucius. Distributions of Chinese philosopher VI --V centuries BC. e. His students collected In the book "Lun Yu" (it is also "Conversations and Judges" and "Analecks"). In one of the English translations There is a statement that is a little reminiscent of this text, but not at all identical to the tested: “When a person convicted by power makes things more useful for people from whom they benefit in a natural way, is it not good without large costs? When he picks up suitable work and makes them engage in them, who will murmure? "
It should be noted that Russian Chinesleists translate this fragment differently. For example, the head of the Department of the Far East of the St. Petersburg branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Martynov Offered This option: “If you control the people through orders and restore order through punishment, then the people will evade orders and punishments and lose shame. If you control the people through the power of De and maintain order in it through proper norms of behavior, then the people will retain shame and will be controlled. ” Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Chinesist Leonard Perepelomov Transferred The passage is like this: “If you manage the people through laws and maintain order with the help of punishments, the people will strive to dodge [from punishments] and will not feel shame. If you manage the people through virtue and maintain order with the help of the ritual, the people will know shame and they will improve. ”
How I found out The Quote Investigator portal, for the first time this phrase is mentioned only in 1982. Princess of Princeton University Philosophy Arthur Satmari in his article for Princeton Alumni Weekly magazine wrote: “One old-timer that I knew told my students:“ Find something that you like to do, and you will not work for a day in life. ” Note that Satmari does not specify who he has in mind by the “old-timer” (old-timer), but clarifies that he knew him. Probably, we are talking about a professor’s colleague.
The famous Chinese thinker began to be attributed quite quickly. Already in 1985, journalist Glenn Rifkin Pre -prior Your article in the magazine Computerworld with an epigraph: “Choose the work that you love, and you will not work for a day in your life. “Confucius.” However, in the 1980s, this phrase in slightly different formulations could be used without instructing the “author”, and simply as an “eastern proverb”. Popularized In 1989, the motivational speaker Harvey McKay (which, however, Confucius also did not mention either).
Photo on the cover: Statue of Confucius in Beijing (David Morrow Via Wikimedia Commons)
Incorrect attribution of quote
- The Quote Investigator. Choose a Job You Love, and You Will Never have to work a day in your life
- A. Martynov. Confucianism. "Lun Yu"
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