Confucius Quotes
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Excess weakens the spirits.
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The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills. The wise are active; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful; the virtuous are long-lived.
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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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No lake so still but it has its wave. No circle so perfect but that it has its blur. I would change things for you if I could; As I can't you must take them as they are.
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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.
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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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Baseball is wrong, man with four balls cannot walk.
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What the great learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence.
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There are three unfilial acts: the greatest of these is the failure to produce sons.
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The man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others.
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We should not be too familiar with the lower orders or with women.
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The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.
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If you don't know how to live, why wonder about death?
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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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Knowledge is merely brilliance in organization of ideas and not wisdom. The truly wise person goes beyond knowledge.
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At fifteen, my mind was bent on learning. At thirty, I stood firm. At forty, I had no doubts. At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven. At sixty, my ear was receptive to truth. At seventy, I could follow my heart's desires without sin
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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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Those whose courses are different cannot lay plans for one another.
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Unify your attention. Do not listen with your ears, but with your mind. Do not listen with your mind but with your essence.
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It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.