Stand at thirty without confusion, know your destiny at fifty, listen at seventy, and do whatever you want without overstepping the bounds.

It means: at 30, you can achieve something. At the age of 40, you won't be confused about things anymore. At the age of 50, you will know what is beyond human control. At the age of 60, you can listen to different opinions. At the age of 70, you can do whatever you want without overstepping the bounds.

From the fourth chapter of The Analects of Confucius, a disciple of Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Original text:

Confucius said, "I am determined to learn at five out of ten, stand at thirty, be puzzled at forty, know my destiny at fifty, listen at sixty, and act at seventy without overstepping the bounds."

Translation:

Confucius said: "I am determined to study at the age of fifteen, and I can achieve something at the age of thirty." Forty years old, no longer confused about things. At the age of fifty, I knew what human resources could not control. Sixty years old, I can listen to different opinions. At the age of seventy, I can do whatever I want without overstepping the bounds. "

Extended data

Politics consists of 24 chapters, mainly involving Confucius' thought of "ruling by virtue", the basic principles of how to seek and be an official in politics, the relationship between learning and thinking, the process of Confucius' own learning and cultivation, reviewing the new learning methods in the past, and further expounding the moral categories such as filial piety and filial piety.

In this chapter, Confucius tells the story of his learning and cultivation. This process is a process of gradually improving the ideological realm with the growth of age.

The whole process is divided into three stages: fifteen to forty years old is the stage of learning and understanding; Fifty or sixty years old is the stage of peace of mind and stability, that is, the stage of being unaffected by the environment; Seventy years old is the stage of integration of subjective consciousness and life rules. At this stage, moral cultivation has reached the highest level.

The highest realm pursued by Confucian scholars is to let people "live and work in peace and contentment". These words of Confucius are to warn later scholars that the process of moral cultivation is very long and difficult. After much experience, you can truly understand the way to be a man, the way to be a politician and become a gentleman.

The Analects of Confucius was written in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and was recorded by Confucius' students and their retranslators. By the Han Dynasty, there were three editions of The Analects of Confucius (20), The Analects of Confucius (22) and The Analects of Classical Chinese (2 1). At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zheng Xuan compiled and annotated a new book based on The Analects of Lu with reference to The Analects of Qi and The Analects of Ancient Chinese.

After Zheng Xuan's annotations were circulated, The Analects of Confucius and The Analects of China Ancient Literature gradually disappeared. The later editions of The Analects of Confucius mainly include: The Analects of Confucius by Wei in the Three Kingdoms Period, On Shu Shu by Liang Huang Kan in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, The Analects of Confucius by Zhu, The Analects of Confucius by Liu Baonan in the Qing Dynasty, etc.

The Analects of Confucius covers many aspects such as philosophy, politics, economy, education, literature and art, and is the most important classic of Confucianism. In terms of expression, The Analects of Confucius is a model for recording prose, with concise language and vivid images. In terms of arrangement, The Analects has no strict compiling style, each article is a chapter, and each chapter is a chapter. Articles and chapters are not closely related, but are roughly classified and repeated chapters appear.

Baidu encyclopedia-the Analects of Confucius is politics