Confucius Quotes
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I saw some piglets suckling their dead mother. After a short while they shuddered and went away. They had sensed that she could no longer see them and that she wasn't like them any more. What they loved in their mother wasn't her body, but whatever it was that made her body live.
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Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
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There are 1,000 lessons in defeat. But only one in victory.
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To be truly happy and contented, you must let go of what it means to be happy or content.
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A superior man may be made to go to the well, but he cannot be made to go down into it. He may be imposed upon, but he cannot be fooled.
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The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.
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The Master said, I set my heart on the Way, base myself on virtue, lean upon benevolence for support and take my recreation in the arts.
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Of neighborhoods, benevolence is the most beautiful. How can the man be considered wise who when he had the choice does not settle in benevolence.
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If you know, say you know. If you don't know, say you don't know.
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Every truth has four corners: as a teacher I give you one corner, and it is for you to find the other three.
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Make fair agreements and stick to them.
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When abroad, behaveto everyone as if interviewing an honored guest; in directing the people, act as if you were assisting at a great sacrafice; DO NOT DO TO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD NOT LIKE DONE TO YOURSELF: so there will be no murmuring against you in the country, and none in the family; your public life will arouse no ill-will nor your private life any resentment.
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Exemplary persons are steadfast in the face of adversity, while petty persons are engulfed by it.
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The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
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He who will not economize will agonize.
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A country of a thousand war-chariots cannot be administered unless the ruler attends strictly to business, punctually observes his promises, is economical in expenditure, loves the people, and uses the labor of the peasantry only at the proper times of year.
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When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
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To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order; we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
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It's only in winter that the pine and cypress are known to be evergreens.
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To know everything is to know nothing, but to know nothing is to know everything.
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Settle one difficulty, and you keep a hundred away.
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If a man keeps cherishing his old knowledge so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of others.
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Tea tempers the spirits and harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude and relieves fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drowsiness, lightens or refreshes the body, and clears the perceptive faculties.
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Tzu Chang asked Confucius about jen. Confucius said, "If you can practice these five things with all the people, you can be called jen." Tzu Chang asked what they were. Confucius said, "Courtesy, generosity, honesty, persistence, and kindness. If you are courteous, you will not be disrespected; if you are generous, you will gain everything. If you are honest, people will rely on you. If you are persistent you will get results. If you are kind, you can employ people.