Analects / Book 7.37, Shu Er

Analects Passage on The Noble Person Is Calm: Text, Translation, and Commentary

Analects Passage on The Noble Person Is Calm: Text, Translation, and Commentary with original text, pinyin, a literal rendering, a readable translation, source location, key terms, and a careful modern reading.

Start here

Analects noble person is calm original Chinese pinyin translation meaning

Analects, Book 7.37, Shu Er: read "子曰：君子坦蕩蕩，小人長戚戚。" before the English explanation.

Original text

子曰：君子坦蕩蕩，小人長戚戚。

Zi yue, jun zi tan dang dang, xiao ren chang qi qi.

Literal layer

The Master said: The gentleman is broad and at ease; the small person is always anxious and distressed.

Readable layer

Analects 7.37 contrasts the noble person's open composure with the small person's persistent distress.

Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months with Chinese Calligraphy from The Metropolitan Museum of Art open-access collection — **Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months with Chinese Calligraphy; Kano School; Gift of Mrs. P. H. B. Frelinghuysen, 1962; The Metropolitan Museum of Art.**Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months with Chinese Calligraphy is used as a public-domain manuscript-style object for dialogue and passage comparison on Analects The Noble Person Is Calm. The fit is semantic: the page asks readers to inspect Book 7.37, Shu Er and the term junzi, while the image remains illustrative rather than proof of the exact manuscript, author portrait, or historical scene.

Reader focus

What this page helps you decide

Analects 7.37 says that the junzi is tan dang dang, broad and at ease, while the small person is chang qi qi, constantly anxious or distressed. The line is not simply a calming quote. It contrasts two formed conditions of character. The noble person's composure comes from moral breadth and openness; the small person's distress comes from a narrower, less settled relation to self and world. The passage treats calm as ethical formation, not surface relaxation.

Watch junzi, tan dang, xiao ren; these terms decide where the literal layer and the readable layer separate.
Compare this page with the gentleman and harmony passages before using the line as a general calmness quote.

The Teaching Scene

This block uses Analects, Book 7.37, Shu Er as the anchor, with "子曰：君子坦蕩蕩，小人長戚戚。" kept in front of the explanation.

A Paired Contrast: The line is built as a pair: junzi and xiao ren, tan dang dang and chang qi qi. The rhythm matters because the passage contrasts two whole orientations. The page keeps both halves visible. If only the noble person's calm is quoted, the ethical contrast disappears. If only the anxious small person is emphasized, the positive model of broad ease is lost.

The Junzi: Junzi is the cultivated or noble person, not merely a polite gentleman. In this passage, the junzi is described by an inner and outer spaciousness. The term should not be flattened into status. The calm of the junzi belongs to formed conduct, reliable judgment, and a life not constantly narrowed by self-protective calculation.

Tan Dang Dang: Tan dang dang is hard to compress into one English phrase. It suggests openness, breadth, levelness, and ease. Broad and at ease keeps both the spacious and settled qualities visible. This is not emotional numbness. It is a composure that comes from being less tangled in hidden anxiety, resentment, or petty gain.

The Small Person: Xiao ren names the small person, a contrast figure in the Analects. The term points less to social class than to moral narrowness. In this line, smallness appears as chang qi qi, a repeated or prolonged distress. The small person is not simply sad. The phrase suggests a life repeatedly constricted by anxious calculation.

The Word That Changes The Passage

Chang Qi Qi: Chang means long, lasting, or constant. Qi qi suggests worry, distress, or unsettled sadness. The repetition makes the feeling heavy and ongoing. The passage therefore contrasts not a passing mood but a settled condition. The noble person is open and broad; the small person remains caught in recurring unease.

Not A Wellness Slogan: Modern readers may use this line as a calmness motto. That is useful only if the Analects frame remains visible. The passage does not offer a quick relaxation technique. It asks what kind of person becomes broad enough to be at ease. Calm is the surface of character, not a detached emotional trick.

Analects The Noble Person Is Calm Citation Limit: A responsible citation should keep the junzi and xiao ren contrast together. The line is strongest when read as a character contrast, not as an isolated sentence about anxiety. If used in self-cultivation writing, explain that the calm belongs to moral breadth and steadiness, while the distress belongs to narrowness and instability.

Analects The Noble Person Is Calm Reading Payoff: This page differs from harmony passages because it concerns inward composure rather than social relation. It differs from poverty-without-resentment because the emotional contrast here is broad ease versus recurring distress, not hardship versus arrogance. The article gives readers a source-based way to use the line without making calm into a generic mood claim.

Keep the term set visible here: junzi, tan dang, xiao ren. The reading changes if one of these terms is translated too smoothly.

The reading should end in one practical move: Compare this page with the gentleman and harmony passages before using the line as a general calmness quote.

Next reading

Links chosen for reading movement

Confucius Quotes About The Gentleman: Analects Source and MeaningFrom Analects The Noble Person Is Calm, open Confucius Quotes About The Gentleman to compare junzi with a second checked passage; the path starts from Book 7.37, Shu Er, so the link has a specific reading job rather than a generic recommendation.Analects Passage on The Gentleman Seeks HarmonyFrom Analects The Noble Person Is Calm, open Analects Passage on The Gentleman Seeks Harmony to test the translation boundary against a neighboring source; the path starts from Book 7.37, Shu Er, so the link has a specific reading job rather than a generic recommendation.Analects Passage on Poverty Without ResentmentFrom Analects The Noble Person Is Calm, open Analects Passage on Poverty Without Resentment to move from this wording to a concrete reader workflow; the path starts from Book 7.37, Shu Er, so the link has a specific reading job rather than a generic recommendation.Confucius Quotes About Self-cultivation: Analects Source and MeaningFrom Analects The Noble Person Is Calm, open Confucius Quotes About Self-cultivation to keep the next step tied to source evidence instead of a loose related list; the path starts from Book 7.37, Shu Er, so the link has a specific reading job rather than a generic recommendation.