The Joy of Learning
The Master said, 'To learn, and from time to time to practice what one has learned—is this not a joy?'
This opening line of the Analects sets the key Confucian mood: learning is not only a duty, but a deep, renewing joy. The verb 習 suggests repeated practice, like a bird flapping its wings until it can fly. Confucius is less interested in cramming for an exam than in returning again and again to what is worth knowing, until it becomes part of one's character.