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人無遠慮，必有近憂

简人无远虑，必有近忧 · 繁人無遠慮，必有近憂

Mandarin · pinyin rén wú yuǎn lǜ , bì yǒu jìn yōu

He who gives no thought to far-flung problems soon finds suffering nearby (idiom, from Analects).
Smug concentration on the here and now will lead to future sorrow.

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Characters in this entry

人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
無: Look up this written character
遠: yuǎn · distant, remote, far; profound
慮: Look up this written character
必: bì · surely, most certainly; must
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
近: jìn · near, close; approach; intimate
憂: Look up this written character
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71
远: yuǎn · distant, remote, far; profound
虑: lǜ · be concerned, worry about
忧: yōu · sad, grieved; grief, melancholy

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

人無遠慮，必有近憂 · find source passages ↗ · 人无远虑，必有近忧 · find source passages ↗

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