Confucius Quotes
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Not feeling compassion for a stranger is like not feeling when one's foot has caught fire.
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The people may be made to follow a path of action but they may not be made to understand it.
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I daily examine myself on three points: In planning for others, have I failed in conscientiousness? In intercourse with friends, have I been insincere? And have I failed to practice what I have been taught?
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How transcendent is the virtue of the middle conduct! Rare for a long time has been its practice among the people.
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Learn, as if never overtaking your object, and yet as if apprehensive of losing it.
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By gaining the people, the kingdom is gained; by losing the people, the kingdom is lost.
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Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.
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Every journey starts with a single step.
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I transmit but do not create. I place my trust in the teachings of antiquity.
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What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.
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Things that are done, it is needless to speak about...things that are past, it is needless to blame.
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If one leads them with administrative measures and uses punishments to make them conform, the people will be evasive, but if one leads them with virtue, they will come up to expectations.
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The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.
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To think twice is quite enough.
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If the gentleman is not serious, he will not be respected, and his learning will not be on a firm foundation. He considers loyalty and faithfulness to be fundamental, has no friends who are not like him, and when he has made mistakes, he is not afraid of correcting them.
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To know it is not as good as to love it, and to love it is not as good as to take delight in it.
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If a man is not good, what has he to do with the rules of propriety? If he is not good, what has he to do with music?
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Reading without thinking will confuse you.Thinking without reading will place you in danger.
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Be loyal to yourself, charitable to neighbours, nothing more.
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There are 3 elements essential in the matters of the State, Food, Military equipment, and Confidence of the people in the ruler. Of these 3, Military Equipment is the least important, Food being the 2nd important, and Confidence of the people being the MOST important. All men rather die of starvation than in war, but nevertheless all men do die of old age. Lacking in Confidence from the people, a state cannot survive.
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How should I know anything about another world when I know so little of this?
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If I understand Change, I shall make no great mistake in Life.
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We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.
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A man may not transgress the bounds of major morals, but may make errors in minor morals.