Confucius Quotes
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See a person's means ... Observe his motives. Examine that in which he rests. How can a person conceal his character?
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Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.
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Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
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Respect yourself and others will respect you.
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Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it.
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Not knowing life, how can we know death? Why talk of spirits when you do not understand men?
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Do not worry if others do not understand you. Instead worry if you do not understand others.
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Great as heaven and earth are, men still find some things in them with which to be dissatisfied. Thus it is that, were the superior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing in the world would be found able to embrace it, and were he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world would be found able to split it.
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The way of the superior person is threefold; virtuous, they are free from anxieties; wise they are free from perplexities; and bold they are free from fear.
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Those who do not study are only cattle dressed up in men's clothes.
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The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.
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I know how the birds fly, how the fishes swim, how animals run. But there is the Dragon. I cannot tell how it mounts on the winds through the clouds and flies through heaven. Today I have seen the Dragon.
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A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present? If he reach the age of forty or fifty, and has not made himself heard of, then indeed he will not be worth being regarded with respect.
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He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.
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Shall I tell you what knowledge is? It is to know both what one knows and what one does not know.
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Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
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It is goodness that gives to a neighborhood its beauty. One who is free to choose, yet does not prefer to dwell among the good - how can he be accorded the name of wise?
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What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.
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Respect the gods and the devils but keep them at a distance.
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He who flatters a man is his enemy. he who tells him of his faults is his maker.
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The superior man is quiet and calm, waiting for the appointments of heaven, while the mean man walks in dangerous paths, looking for lucky occurrences.
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Even if I could, I would not exahnge their virtues for my own. And that is why they are intent on learning from me.
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It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
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When anger rises, think of the consequences.