Confucius Quotes
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Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.
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A man who does not think and plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door.
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An orchid in a deep forest sends out its fragrance even if no one is around to appreciate it.
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It is true that we shall not be able to reach perfection, but in our struggle toward it we shall strengthen our characters and give stability to our ideas, so that, whilst ever advancing calmly in the same direction, we shall be rendered capable of applying the faculties with which we have been gifted to the best possible account.
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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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To prefer it is better than to only know it. To delight in it is better than merely to prefer it.
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The man of wisdom is never of two minds; the man of benevolence never worries; the man of courage is never afraid.
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Please stop waiting for a better and more appropriate time to become happy and focus on the moment you live in. Happiness is not an arrival, it is the journey itself. Many people seek for happiness above the height of human beings, some below. Yet, happiness is exactly at the exact height of human beings.
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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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If names are not correct, then language is not in accord with the truth of things. If language is not in accord with the truth of things, then affairs cannot be carried out successfully.
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Don't let your past determine your destiny.
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I have yet to meet a man as fond of high moral conduct as he is of outward appearances.
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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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He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.
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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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Cultivated people foster what is good in others, not what is bad. Petty people do the opposite.
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The whole end of speech is to be understood.
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Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.
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If you don't know how to serve men, why worry about serving the gods?
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There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute.
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It was by music that the ancient kings gave elegant expression to their joy. By their armies and axes they gave the same to their anger.
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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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Which demands a lot of himself and some others, will be free from hatred.
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The Master said, A gentleman, in his plans, thinks of the Way; he does not think how he is going to make a living. Even farming sometimes entails 5 times of shortage; and even learning may incidentally lead to high pay. But a gentleman's anxieties concern the progress of the Way; he has no anxiety concerning poverty.