The Chinese Classics — Prolegomena
The Chinese Classics — Prolegomena
Translated by James Legge
This is the foundational work that opened the Chinese classics to Western scholarship. James Legge, the pioneering Scottish sinologist, here provides the essential introduction to the texts that shaped Chinese civilization for over two millennia. The Prolegomena establishes the historical framework for understanding the Five Ching and the Four Books, tracing how these texts were compiled, commented upon, and canonized through successive dynasties. Legge examines the Analects of Confucius, the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the other pillars of Confucian thought, explaining their place in imperial examination halls and private study alike. What emerges is not merely a scholarly apparatus but a patient illumination of how an entire civilization read, argued over, and lived according to these words. For anyone seeking to understand China beyond the modern headlines, this remains the essential starting point, the gateway through which Western readers have historically entered the world of classical Chinese philosophy.
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“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.””
— Unknown
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.””
— Unknown
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.””
— Unknown
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.””
— Unknown
“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity””
— Unknown
“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.””
— Unknown
“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.””
— Unknown
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win””
— Unknown
“The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.””
— Unknown
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