Confucius Quotes
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The gentleman is calm and at ease. The gentleman is dignified but not proud; the small man is proud but not dignified.
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Look at the means which a man employs, consider his motives, observe his pleasures. A man simply cannot conceal himself!
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Listen widely to remove your doubts and be careful when speaking about the rest and your mistakes will be few.
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If the search for riches were sure to be successful, though I should become a groom with a whip in my hand to get them, I will do so. As the search may not be successful, I will follow after that which I love.
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There has never been a man mean and at the same time virtuous.
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Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
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The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground.
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At fifteen my mind was directed to study, and at thirty I knew where to stand.
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What the wise seek is in themselves.
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Instead of being concerned that you have no office, be concerned to think how you may fit yourself for office. Instead of being concerned that you are not known, seek to be worthy of being known.
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To err and not reform, this may indeed be called error.
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Transport a handful of earth everyday and you will make a mountain.
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The superior person is in harmony, but does not follow the crowd. The lesser person follows the crowd, but is not in harmony.
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The silent treasuring up of knowledge; learning without satiety; and instructing others without being wearied: which one of these things belongs to me?
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The Master said, “What a worthy man was Yan Hui! Living in a narrow alley, subsisting upon meager bits of rice and water—other people could not have borne such hardship, and yet it never spoiled Hui’s joy. What a worthy man was Hui!” (Analects 6.11)
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Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.
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Writing cannot express all words, words cannot encompass all ideas.
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The Master said of Gong Yechang, “He is marriageable. Although he was once imprisoned and branded as a criminal, he was in fact innocent of any crime.” The Master gave him his daughter in marriage. (Analects 5.1)
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A good man will certainly also possess courage; but a brave man is not necessarily good.
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Our headstrong passions shut the door of our souls against God.
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To know and not do, is to not yet know.
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An image is better than one thousand words.
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To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.
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The virtuous will be sure to speak uprightly; but those whose speech is upright may not be virtuous.