Confucius Quotes
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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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He who sling mud, lose ground.
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Wisdom is worried for being slow in its speech and expeditious in its actions.
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The Master said, "Wealth and honor are things that all people desire, and yet unless they are acquired in the proper way I will not abide them. Poverty and disgrace are things that all people hate, and yet unless they are avoided in the proper way I will not despise them. If the gentleman abandons ren, how can he be worthy of that name? The gentleman does not violate ren even for the amount of time required to eat a meal. Even in times of urgency or distress, he does not depart from it."
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A happy union with wife and child is like the music of lutes and harps.
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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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Who heeds not the future will find sorrow at hand.
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The commander of the forces of a large State may be carried off, but the will of even a common man cannot be taken from him.
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It is better not to proceed at all than to proceed without purpose.
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Rather than caring about whether or not you are known, strive to be worth knowing.
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Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone might be looking. Hear and you forget, see and you remember, do and you understand.
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When I am with others, they are my teachers. I can select their good points and follow them, and select their bad points and avoid them.
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The demands that good people make are upon themselves; Those that bad people make are upon others.
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Not to mend one's ways when one has erred is to err indeed.
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The superior man, even when he is not moving, has a feeling of reverence, and while he speaks not, he has the feeling of truthfulness.
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Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.
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Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.
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When a man feels the difficulty of doing, can he be other than cautious and slow in speaking?
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A ruthless man extends his ruthlessness from those he does not love to those he loves.
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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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To lead uninstructed people to war is to throw them away.
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If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.
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Study the past if you would define the future. I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there. Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.