德不孤，必有鄰

Chinese

		Germany; virtue; goodness Germany; virtue; goodness; morality; ethics; kindness; favour; character; kind	not; no	lone; lonely		certainly; must; will certainly; must; will; necessarily	to have; there is; there are to have; there is; there are; to exist; to be	neighbour; adjacent; close to
trad. (德不孤，必有鄰/德不孤，必有隣)		德	不	孤	，	必	有	鄰/隣
simp. (德不孤，必有邻)		德	不	孤	，	必	有	邻

Etymology

From the Analects, Book 4 (《論語·里仁》):

子曰：「德不孤，必有鄰。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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子曰：「德不孤，必有邻。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Zǐyuē: “Dé bù gū, bì yǒu lín.” [Pinyin]

The Master said, "Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors."

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): débùgū, bìyǒulín

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄜˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄍㄨ , ㄅㄧˋ ㄧㄡˇ ㄌㄧㄣˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): dak¹ bat¹ gu¹, bit¹ jau⁵ leon⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: débùgū, bìyǒulín
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄜˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄍㄨ , ㄅㄧˋ ㄧㄡˇ ㄌㄧㄣˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: débùgu, bìyǒulín
    • Wade–Giles: tê²-pu⁴-ku¹, pi⁴-yu³-lin²
    • Yale: dé-bù-gū-, bì-yǒu-lín
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: derbugu, bihyeoulin
    • Palladius: дэбугу, биюлинь (dɛbugu, bijulinʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tɤ³⁵ pu⁵¹ ku⁵⁵ pi⁵¹ joʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ lin³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: dak¹ bat¹ gu¹, bit¹ jau⁵ leon⁴
    • Yale: dāk bāt gū, bīt yáuh lèuhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dak⁷ bat⁷ gu¹, bit⁷ jau⁵ loen⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: deg¹ bed¹ gu¹, bid¹ yeo⁵ lên⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tɐk̚⁵ pɐt̚⁵ kuː⁵⁵ piːt̚⁵ jɐu̯¹³ lɵn²¹/

Proverb

德不孤，必有鄰

1. a virtuous person is never solitary but always has companions

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (德不孤，必有鄰):

• → Korean: 덕불고 필유린(德不孤，必有鄰)

Others:

• → Japanese: 徳は孤ならず必ず隣あり (toku wa ko narazu kanarazu tonari ari) (calque)