子曰，鄙夫，可与事君也与哉。其未得之也，患得之，既得之，患失之。苟患失之，无所不至矣。
白话导读
孔子说：能和那些庸俗浅陋的人一起侍奉君主吗？他们在没有得到官位时，总担心得不到；已经得到了，又担心失去。如果一味担心失去官位，那就什么坏事都做得出来了。
James Legge 英译
1. The Master said, "There are those mean creatures! How impossible it is along with them to serve one's prince! 2. "While they have not got their aims, their anxiety is how to get them. When they have got them, their anxiety is lest they should lose them. 3. "When they are anxious lest such things should be lost, there is nothing to which they will not proceed."
译注：James Legge 公版英译，1893 年原版。
注释
- 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。