今有人日攘其鄰之雞者，或告之曰：“是非君子之道。”曰：“請損之，月攘一雞，以待來年然后已。”

如知其非義，斯速已矣，何待來年？

白話翻譯：

有個人每天偷他鄰居的雞，有人對他說：“這不是君子的行為。”那個人說：“我先少偷一點，每月偷一只，等到明年再完全改正。”

如果知道這樣做不符合道義，就要趕快改正，為什么要等到明年呢?

Once a Month

Now there was a man who stole a chicken from his neighbour every day.

“ This is not the way a man of moral principles shoud behave,” he was told.

“ Well, then I’ll reduce the number,” he replied, “I’ll steal one every month and next year I won’t steal any more.”

Since he knew he was doing something wrong, he ought to stop at once. Why wait till next year?