過guò而ér不bù改gǎi，是shì謂wèi過guò矣yǐ

What does 過而不改，是謂過矣 (guò ér bù gǎi shì wèi guò yǐ) mean?

過而不改，是謂過矣 (guò ér bù gǎi shì wèi guò yǐ) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "fault without correcting, this is called fault." In use it means: A fault not corrected is the true fault; the real mistake is failing to address the error. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Earth note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Dog.

Literally: "fault without correcting, this is called fault."

The reading

The error itself is the first act; failing to address it is the second. The second is the one that defines the person, because it is chosen where the first was often not. To make a mistake and know it and then not correct it is to commit to a path whose eventual destination is visible from the beginning. The fault is in the continuation, not only the origin.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeyànyǔ 諺語
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element土 Earth
• Zodiac tie狗 Year of the Dog

Source Analects of Confucius 論語·衛靈公 (Wèi Líng Gōng XV)

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Humility & Self-Mastery, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.