The Analects

The Analects is the primary record of Confucius's sayings and conversations, compiled by his students and their own students after his death rather than written by Confucius himself, which is why the atlas lists the author as attributed rather than certain. As the earliest and most central source for Confucius's own teaching, it is foundational, but its transmission history means later compilers likely shaped, selected and arranged the sayings before the text reached the form known today. It carries no single named translator here because it is being cited as the primary text and content rather than through one edition, so specific renderings of any quoted passage should be checked against a stated translation. Its limits are those of any orally transmitted teaching later written down, order and context of individual sayings are not always reliable.