Confucius Quotes
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Every piece of marble has a statue in it waiting to be released by a person of sufficient skill to chip away the unnecessary parts. Just as the sculptor is to the marble, so is education to the soul. It releases it. For only educated people are free people. You cannot create a statue by smashing the marble with a hammer, and you cannot by the force of arms release the spirit or the soul of people.
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Knowing what's correct and not doing it, it's the worst cowardice.
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Love should start from people close to us, then be extended to other people, to strangers, and eventually to the world.
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When you see a good person, think of becoming like her/him. When you see someone not so good, reflect on your own weak points.
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In antiquity men studied for their own sake; nowadays men study for the sake of impressing others.
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Plan ahead or find trouble on the doorstep.
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There is the love of knowing without the love of learning; the beclouding here leads to dissipation of mind.
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If you try to do too much, you will not achieve anything.
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By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
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Wouldst thou know if a people be well governed, or if its laws be good or bad, examine the music it practices.
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To become a leader, you must first become a human being.
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A man of humanity is one who, in seeking to establish himself, finds a foothold for others and who, in desiring attaining himself, helps others to attain.
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Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you.
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Who expects to be able to go out of a house except by the door? How is it then that no one follows this Way of ours?
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In a district of ten families, there must be someone as honorable and sincere as I, but none as fond of learning.
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In old days men studied for the sake of self-improvement; nowadays men study in order to impress other people.
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Charity is that rational and constant affection which makes us sacrifice ourselves to the human race, as if we were united with it, so as to form one individual, partaking equally in its adversity and prosperity.
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Behind every smile there's teeth.
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Between friends, frequent reproofs make the friendship distant.
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What can a man do with music who is not benevolent?
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Return good for good; return evil with justice.
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The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
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Possessed of courage but devoid of morality, a superior man will make trouble while a small man will be a brigand.
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If your plan is for one year plant rice. If your plan is for ten years plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children.