Confucius

Quotes

• “In all things success depends on previous preparation, and without such previous preparation there is sure to be failure...”
• “What the great learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest...”
• “How great is the path proper to the Sage! Like overflowing water, it sends forth and nourishes all things, and rises up ...”
• “Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues, and careful in speaking about them, if, in his practice, he has anything def...”
• “What Heaven has conferred is called The Nature; an accordance with this nature is called The Path of duty; the regulatio...”
• “Confucianism stood for a rationalized social order through the ethical approach, based on personal cultivation. It aimed...”
• “Note: The word translated "strange teachings" means literally another end [of textile]. There are two different understa...”
• “Sincerity becomes apparent. From being apparent, it becomes manifest. From being manifest, it becomes brilliant. Brillia...”
• “China's Communist leaders, while officially genuflecting to Maoist ideology, are finding something of value in folk reli...”
• “I remember a story about the great Confucius. Once he was very ill, and his friends, thinking that he was about to die p...”
• “All things are nourished together without their injuring one another. The courses of the seasons, and of the sun and moo...”
• “It is said in the Book of Poetry, "In silence is the offering presented, and the spirit approached to; there is not the ...”
• “When we have intelligence resulting from sincerity, this condition is to be ascribed to nature; when we have sincerity r...”
• “Listen widely to remove your doubts and be careful when speaking about the rest and your mistakes will be few. See much ...”
• “If you would govern a state of a thousand chariots (a small-to-middle-size state), you must pay strict attention to busi...”
• “If the Superior Man is not serious, then he will not inspire awe in others. If he is not learned, then he will not be on...”
• “The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not ...”
• “When the Superior Man (Junzi) eats he does not try to stuff himself; at rest he does not seek perfect comfort; he is dil...”
• “The administration of government lies in getting proper men. Such men are to be got by means of the ruler's own characte...”
• “The Yin based its propriety on that of the Xia, and what it added and subtracted is knowable. The Zhou has based its pro...”
• “I know how it is that the path of the Mean is not walked in - The knowing go beyond it, and the stupid do not come up to...”
• “Let the superior man never fail reverentially to order his own conduct, and let him be respectful to others and observan...”
• “Confucius... said that the one who does not react to slander, which is slowly absorbed by the brain, nor to insults, whi...”
• “means "to gamble" in Modern Chinese, and "to play Go; to play chess" in Classical Chinese (wiktionary:博弈, wiktionary:博奕)...”
• “Somebody asked Confucious once, one of his students; they said "What happens, Master Kong," which was his real name, "wh...”
• “At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty I knew the will...”
• “I do not open up the truth to one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anxious to explain ...”
• “Attributed in Lillet Walters (2000), Secrets of Superstar Speakers; attributed in English sources as a "Japanese proverb...”
• “A young man should serve his parents at home and be respectful to elders outside his home. He should be earnest and trut...”
• “The Master said, "Hard is it to deal with him, who will stuff himself with food the whole day, without applying his mind...”
• “Men all say, "We are wise"; but being driven forward and taken in a net, a trap, or a pitfall, they know not how to esca...”
• “When your father is alive, observe his will. When your father is dead observe his former actions. If, for three years [a...”
• “When you serve your mother and father it is okay to try to correct them once in a while. But if you see that they are no...”
• “Variant translations: The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions. The greate...”
• “He that in his studies wholly applies himself to labour and exercise, and neglects meditation, loses his time, and he th...”
• “The Superior Man has nothing to compete for. But if he must compete, he does it in an archery match, wherein he ascends ...”
• “It is characteristic of the most entire sincerity to be able to foreknow. When a nation or family is about to flourish, ...”
• “To worship to other than one's own ancestral spirits is brown-nosing. If you see what is right and fail to act on it, yo...”
• “Reportedly in: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Mistrust, Conspiracy, and Lack of Internet Ethics (1980) Hea...”
• “The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first tra...”
• “Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned? Isn't it also great when friends visit from distant pla...”
• “How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to them! We look for them, but do not see them; we lis...”
• “When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he i...”
• “The kingdom, its states, and its families, may be perfectly ruled; dignities and emoluments may be declined; naked weapo...”
• “Plato and Confucius were fifth round men and our Lord a sixth round man (the mystery of his avatar is spoken of in my fo...”
• “Heaven, in the production of things, is sure to be bountiful to them, according to their qualities. Hence the tree that ...”
• “Guide the people by law, subdue them by punishment; they may shun crime, but will be void of shame. Guide them by exampl...”
• “Of all people, girls and servants are the most difficult to behave to. If you are familiar with them, they lose their hu...”
• “Sincerity is the end and beginning of things; without sincerity there would be nothing. On this account, the superior ma...”
• “The way of the superior man may be found, in its simple elements, in the intercourse of common men and women; but in its...”