Confucius Quotes
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The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself.
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A true gentleman makes demands upon himself but not upon others.
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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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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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There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life -reciprocity.
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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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If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?
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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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Not to mend one's ways when one has erred is to err indeed.
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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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Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.
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Do not treat others as you yourself would not be treated.
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Worry not that no one knows you; seek to be worth knowing.
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Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?
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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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Character is the backbone of our human culture. Music is the flowering of character.
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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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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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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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Being strong does not mean that you never fall down, but that whenever you fall, you get up again.
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A person of character takes as much trouble to discover what is right as the lesser men take to discover what will pay.
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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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If I give a student one-fourth of what he should know, I expect him to get the other three-fourths himself, otherwise I do not want him as a student.
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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.