Ahh, the famous Lun Yu. It is full of such expressions that direct translation gives you a headache. To me the most famous example would be “民可使由之不可使知之”. Due to the lack of punctuation it can be translated in two different ways:
1: 民可使由之,不可使知之:common people shall be commanded, (but) not enlightened.
2: 民可,使由之。不可,使知之。:(if) common people are well educated let them act on their own. If not, enlighten them. Pretty drastically different political ideal here.
Ahh, the famous Lun Yu. It is full of such expressions that direct translation gives you a headache. To me the most famous example would be “民可使由之不可使知之”. Due to the lack of punctuation it can be translated in two different ways:
1: 民可使由之,不可使知之:common people shall be commanded, (but) not enlightened.
2: 民可,使由之。不可,使知之。:(if) common people are well educated let them act on their own. If not, enlighten them. Pretty drastically different political ideal here.