Confucius Quotes
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To lead uninstructed people to war is to throw them away.
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You cannot open a book without learning something.
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There is good government when those who are near are made happy, and when those who are afar are attracted.
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Happiness does not consist in having what you want, but in wanting what you have.
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Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.
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If my mind be not engaged in worship, it is as though I worshipped not.
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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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Base yourself in loyalty and trust. Don't be companion with those who are not your moral equal. When you make a mistake, don't hesitate to correct it.
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I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was not virtuous. He who loved virtue would esteem nothing above it.
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The funniest people are the saddest once.
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All things are nourished together without their injuring one another. The courses of the seasons, and of the sun and moon, are pursued without any collision among them. The smaller energies are like river currents; the greater energies are seen in mighty transformations. It is this which makes heaven and earth so great.
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I transmit but do not create. I place my trust in the teachings of antiquity.
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The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a straight line that passes directly through the center of a very large tree.
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To become a leader, you must first become a human being.
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The superior man is easy to serve, but difficult to please ... The inferior man is difficult to serve, but easy to please.
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To think twice is quite enough.
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A man should demand much from himself, but little from others. When you meet a man of worth, think how you may attain to his excellence. When you meet an unworthy one, then look within and examine yourself.
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To study and constantly, is this not a pleasure? To have friends come from far away places, is this not a joy? If people do not recognize your worth, but this does not worry you, are you not a true gentleman?
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When a person should be spoken with, and you don't speak with them, you lose them. When a person shouldn't be spoken with and you speak to them, you waste your breath. The wise do not lose people, nor do they waste their breath.
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They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.
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Great is the man who can overcome the world, but greater still is the man who can overcome himself, for he will have the world spinning on the palm of his hand.
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If a man has no humaneness what can his propriety be like? If a man has no humaneness what can his happiness be like?
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A lion chased me up a tree, and I greatly enjoyed the view from the top.
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The superior man honors his virtuous nature, and maintains constant inquiry and study, seeking to carry it out to its breadth and greatness, so as to omit none of the more exquisite and minute points which it embraces, and to raise it to its greatest height and brilliancy.