The Master said, “The noble person does not promote someone solely on the basis of his words, nor does he reject someone’s words solely because of who he is.”
Note
This saying from the Analects of Confucius reflects Confucian rationality, fairness, and dialectical thinking in evaluating people and accepting advice.
“Does not promote someone solely on the basis of his words” means one should not appoint or praise a person merely because his speech is eloquent or his ideas sound impressive. Words can be polished – or even deceptive; true worth must be judged through long-term observation of conduct, character, and actual ability. This guards against hasty judgments based on rhetoric alone.
“Nor does he reject someone’s words solely because of who he is” means that even if a person has moral flaws, low status, or a problematic past, if what he says is reasonable and valuable, it should still be accepted. Truth does not lose validity because of the speaker’s identity. This avoids the prejudice of dismissing good ideas due to personal bias.
Together, these principles demonstrate Confucius’ wisdom of valuing substance over appearance and adhering to facts over reputation. People should be judged holistically; ideas should be assessed on their own merit.
This teaching also aligns with Analects 5.10: “Listen to what people say and observe what they do” – words and deeds must correspond. Yet even when they don’t, the “words” may still contain insight worth retaining.
In today’s information-saturated world, people often accept or reject ideas entirely based on the speaker’s political stance, social identity, or past statements. Confucius reminds us: Judge the value of speech by its content, not the speaker; select talent based on virtue and performance, not eloquence.
In short, Confucius teaches: The noble person values substance over rhetoric and truth over personal bias; he neither trusts glib talk nor rejects wise counsel simply because it comes from an imperfect source.
Further Reading
The Master said, “In the past, when I judged people, I heard their words and trusted their conduct; now, when I judge people, I hear their words and observe their conduct.” Analects 5.10 (Gong Ye Chang)
Both stress that words alone are insufficient for judging a person; actions must be examined – yet words may still hold independent value.
Zigong said, “King Zhou’s wickedness was not as extreme as people say. Thus, the noble person hates being cast into the lowest current – once there, all the world’s evils are attributed to him.” Analects 19.20 (Zi Zhang)
Warns against the tendency to completely vilify a person and dismiss everything associated with them – echoing “do not reject words because of the person.”
子曰：「君子不以言舉人，不以人廢言。」
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