Confucius Quotes
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Who heeds not the future will find sorrow at hand.
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Respect yourself and others will respect you.
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Do not treat others as you yourself would not be treated.
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A true gentleman makes demands upon himself but not upon others.
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The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself.
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How great is the path proper to the Sage! Like overflowing water, it sends forth and nourishes all things, and rises up to the height of heaven. All-complete is its greatness! It embraces the three hundred rules of ceremony, and the three thousand rules of demeanor. It waits for the proper man, and then it is trodden. Hence it is said, 'Only by perfect virtue can the perfect path, in all its courses, be made a fact.'
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The superior man does what is proper to the station in which he is; he does not desire to go beyond this. In a position of wealth and honor, he does what is proper to a position of wealth and honor. In a poor and low position, he does what is proper to a poor and low position.
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Worry not that no one knows you; seek to be worth knowing.
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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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Not to mend one's ways when one has erred is to err indeed.
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The parents age must be remembered, both for joy and anxiety.
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Character is the backbone of our human culture. Music is the flowering of character.
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Being strong does not mean that you never fall down, but that whenever you fall, you get up again.
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If a man withdraws his mind from the love of beauty, and applies it as sincerely to the love of the virtuous; if, in serving his parents, he can exert his utmost strength; if, in serving his prince, he can devote his life; if in his intercourse with his friends, his words are sincere – although men say that he has not learned, I will certainly say that he has.
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There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life -reciprocity.
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To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge. When you say something, say what you know. When you don't know something, say you don't know. That is knowledge.
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Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?
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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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Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.
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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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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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I have never seen one who really loves goodness or one who really hates wickedness. One who really loves goodness will not place anything above it. One who really hates wickedness will practice goodness in such a way that wickedness will have no chance to get at him. Is there anyone who has devoted his whole strength to doing good for even as long as a single day? I have not seen anyone give up such an attempt because he had not the strength to go on. Perhaps there is such a case, but I have never seen it.
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The general of a large army may be defeated, but you cannot defeat the determined mind of a peasant.
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When you are ignorant about something, to know that you are ignorant about it - that is knowledge.