盡信書不如無書

Chinese

		to use up; to exhaust; to end to use up; to exhaust; to end; to finish; to the utmost; exhausted; finished; to the limit (of something)	letter; true; to believe letter; true; to believe; sign; evidence	Book of Documents	to be not like; to be not equal to; to be not as good as to be not like; to be not equal to; to be not as good as; cannot compare to; to be inferior to	not have	Book of Documents
trad. (盡信書不如無書)		盡	信	書	不如	無	書
simp. (尽信书不如无书)		尽	信	书	不如	无	书
Literally: “Believing everything in the Book of Documents is worse than without that book.”

Etymology

From Mencius:

孟子曰：「盡信《書》，則不如無《書》。吾於《武成》，取二三策而已矣。仁人無敵於天下。以至仁伐至不仁，而何其血之流杵也？」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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孟子曰：「尽信《书》，则不如无《书》。吾于《武成》，取二三策而已矣。仁人无敌于天下。以至仁伐至不仁，而何其血之流杵也？」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

Mèngzǐ yuē: “Jìn xìn “shū”, zé bùrú wú “shū”. Wú yú “Wǔchéng”, qǔ èrsān cè éryǐ yǐ. Rénrén wúdí yú tiānxià. Yǐ zhì rén fá zhì bùrén, ér héqí xuè zhī liú chǔ yě?” [Pinyin]

Mencius said, "It would be better to be without the Book of Documents than to give entire credit to it. In the 'Completion of the War', I select two or three passages only, which I believe. The benevolent man has no enemy under heaven. When the prince the most benevolent was engaged against him who was the most the opposite, how could the blood of the people have flowed till it floated the pestles of the mortars?"

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): jìn xìn shū bùrú wú shū

  (Zhuyin): ㄐㄧㄣˋ ㄒㄧㄣˋ ㄕㄨ ㄅㄨˋ ㄖㄨˊ ㄨˊ ㄕㄨ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zeon⁶ seon³ syu¹ bat¹ jyu⁴ mou⁴ syu¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: jìn xìn shū bùrú wú shū
    • Zhuyin: ㄐㄧㄣˋ ㄒㄧㄣˋ ㄕㄨ ㄅㄨˋ ㄖㄨˊ ㄨˊ ㄕㄨ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jìn sìn shu bùrú wú shu
    • Wade–Giles: chin⁴ hsin⁴ shu¹ pu⁴-ju² wu² shu¹
    • Yale: jìn syìn shū bù-rú wú shū
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jinn shinn shu buru wu shu
    • Palladius: цзинь синь шу бужу у шу (czinʹ sinʹ šu bužu u šu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕin⁵¹⁻⁵³ ɕin⁵¹ ʂu⁵⁵ pu⁵¹ ʐu³⁵ u³⁵ ʂu⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: zeon⁶ seon³ syu¹ bat¹ jyu⁴ mou⁴ syu¹
    • Yale: jeuhn seun syū bāt yùh mòuh syū
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzoen⁶ soen³ sy¹ bat⁷ jy⁴ mou⁴ sy¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: zên⁶ sên³ xu¹ bed¹ yu⁴ mou⁴ xu¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɵn²² sɵn³³ syː⁵⁵ pɐt̚⁵ jyː²¹ mou̯²¹ syː⁵⁵/

Proverb

盡信書不如無書

1. Do not blindly believe everything written in books