子曰，后生可畏，焉知来者之不如今也，四十五十而无闻焉，斯亦不足畏也已。
Modern Chinese Guide
孔子说：年轻人是值得敬畏的，怎么知道后来的人赶不上现在的人呢？但如果一个人到了四五十岁还没有什么名声，那也就不值得敬畏了。
James Legge Translation
The Master said, "A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present? If he reach the age of forty or fifty, and has not made himself heard of, then indeed he will not be worth being regarded with respect."
Source: James Legge, public domain, 1893.
Notes
- 底本：Wikisource 整理的 James Legge《The Chinese Classics》公版中英文本（1893–1895）。
- 简体化：原文由繁体转为简体（OpenCC），与公版英译逐句对应。
- 白话参考底本：《白话论语读本》，张兆瑢、沈元起编译，上海广益书局1948 年新三版。