The Original Quote:
子曰：“鄙夫可与事君也与哉？其未得之也，患得之；既得之，患失之。苟患失之，无所不至矣。”
Zǐ yuē: “Bǐ fū kě yǔ shì jūn yě yǔ zāi? Qí wèi dé zhī yě, huàn dé zhī; jì dé zhī, huàn shī zhī. Gǒu huàn shī zhī, wú suǒ bù zhì yǐ.”
English Translation:
The Master said: “Can a petty man indeed be entrusted with serving the prince? Before he obtains office, his sole anxiety is that he may not gain it; after he has gained it, his sole anxiety is that he may lose it. Should he be thus anxious about losing it, there is no length to which he will not go.”
Key Concepts Explained:
- Petty Man (鄙夫, bǐ fū): A person of narrow vision and selfish ambition, lacking the moral cultivation (德, dé) needed for public service. Contrasts with the noble person (君子, jūn zǐ), who acts from righteousness (义, yì).
- Anxiety (患, huàn): A state of obsessive worry rooted in attachment to personal gain, which Confucius condemns as destructive to integrity. It reflects a failure of self-cultivation (修身, xiū shēn).
- Loss of Office (失之, shī zhī): In Confucian thought, office is a duty (命, mìng), not a possession. To cling to it out of fear is to abandon the Way (道, dào) and betray the trust of ruler and people.
Cultural Context:
This passage from the Analects (论语, Lúnyǔ) critiques the moral decay among officials in the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), when ambition often eclipsed virtue. Confucius (孔子, Kǒng Zǐ) taught that public service must be grounded in ren (仁, benevolence) and li (礼, ritual propriety), not self-interest. The petty man’s fear-driven behavior—resorting to any means to retain power—serves as a timeless warning against corruption and the erosion of ethical governance, a theme that resonates across Chinese history and into modern leadership contexts.