Article 15 of The Analects of Confucius Wei Linggong
original text
15. 10 Zigong Wenwei people. Confucius said, "If a worker wants to do a good job, he must sharpen his tools first. Living in a country is also a saint and a doctor, and a benevolent person is a friend of the people. "
translate
Zi Gong asked how to practice benevolence. Confucius said, "If a worker wants to do a good job, he must sharpen his tools first. To live in this country, we must serve the sages among doctors and make friends with the benevolent among scholars. "
Comment and analysis
The phrase "if a worker wants to do a good job, he must sharpen his tools first" is widely known among the people. This is "sharpening the knife and cutting the wood by mistake." In this chapter, Confucius used this as a metaphor to explain that the way to implement benevolent policies is to give priority to others and make friends with benevolent people, which needs to be done first.