Quote: By three methods we may learn wisdom (attrib Confucius 1893)

[Wilson Gray]

On Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 10:29 AM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Quote: By three methods we may learn wisdom (attrib Confucius
> Â  Â  Â  Â  Â  Â  Â 1893)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Confucius is a quote magnet or flypaper figure in the world of
> aphorisms. I have been asked about a saying attributed to Confucius
> and the earliest cite I have located is dated 1893:
>
> Cite: 1893, "Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English
> and Foreign Sources", Selected and Compiled by James Wood, Page 34,
> Frederick Warne and Co., London and New York. (Google Books full view)
>
> By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is
> the noblest; second, by imitation, which is the easiest; and third, by
> experience, which is the bitterest. Confucius.
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=Zf83AAAAIAAJ&q=%22three+methods%22#v=snippet&
>
> Knowing when an expression crosses over into the English language is
> valuable I think, and the tools I use can help to answer that
> question. But it is a circumscribed form of knowledge. Any feedback
> about this quote from list members would be welcome, e.g., further
> antedatings in English, a possible source text in Chinese, and other
> ideas about how the maxim was constructed. I think this is on topic
> because the saying might be an English proverb or amalgamation in
> disguise.
> Garson
>
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FWIW, a version of Persian(?) origin can be found here:

http://goo.gl/7z3Ec

and elsewhere.

I'm not familiar at all with the "Confucian" version. But, when I was
a first-year student in high school, my English teacher often quoted
something similar to the "Persian" one, though I don't recall that
this Jesuit provided a source beyond "Listen and learn!" or some such.

--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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