曰仁[1]云：「心犹镜也，圣人心如明镜，常人心如昏镜。近世『格物』[2]之说，如以镜照物；照上用功，不知镜尚昏在，何能照？先生之『格物』，如磨镜而使之明，磨上用功，明了后亦未尝废照。」
徐爱说：「心好比镜子。圣人的心如同明镜，常人的心如同昏镜。近世『格物』的学说，好比拿镜子去照物，在『照』上用功，却不知镜子还是昏的，怎么能照？先生的『格物』，如同磨镜使它明亮，在『磨』上用功，磨亮之后也并不废弃照。」
Xu Ai said: 'The mind is like a mirror: the sage's mind a bright mirror, the common mind a tarnished one. The recent doctrine of investigating things is like using the mirror to reflect things — working at the reflecting, unaware the mirror is still dim: how can it reflect? Your teaching of investigating things is like polishing the mirror bright — working at the polishing; and once bright, reflecting is by no means abandoned.'
- 曰仁系徐爱字，此为《传习录》中由王守仁弟子所说的唯一的一条语录。
- 指朱熹以「穷理」释「格物」之说。