The whole sentence means: for learning, people who know how to learn are not as good as those who like to learn; People who love learning are not as good as those who love learning. For example, learning knowledge or skills is not as fast as those who love it, and those who love it are not as fast as those who enjoy it.

From Confucius' disciple and his disciple "The Analects of Confucius, Yongye Six" in the Spring and Autumn Period: "Confucius said:' Knowing is not as good as being good, and being good is not as good as being happy. "Confucius said," People who know how to learn can't compare with those who love learning, and those who love learning can't compare with those who enjoy learning. "

Knowledge, kindness and happiness are the three levels of learning. This passage emphasizes the vital role of hobbies and interests in people's learning. Confucius believes that people who know how to learn, whether knowledge or skills, are not as good as those who love learning, and those who love learning are not as good as those who enjoy learning.

Interpretation of Lin Yutang's The Wisdom of Confucius

(Zhu) In his Typology, he also said that understanding the literal meaning of the original text is one thing, and understanding its meaning is another. The biggest weakness of ordinary readers is that they only understand the surface of words and fail to grasp the real benefits of books. He added that the correct way to learn is to think hard.

At first, you will feel that it takes a lot of thinking and energy to understand it so well, but after you have a strong general understanding, it will be easy to finish reading a book. At first, a book needs 100% energy to read. Later, only 80 or 90 minutes of energy is enough, followed by 60 or 70 minutes. Finally, forty or fifty minutes of energy is enough.

Reading and thinking are two complementary things in the process of seeking knowledge, and they are the basic educational methods of Confucianism. Confucius himself mentioned these two methods and recorded them in The Analects of Confucius.