Confucius Quotes

"Examine your own heart when you go to bed, and if you find nothing wrong there, you can enjoy your sleep."

"If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself."

"The Path is not far from man. When men try to pursue a course, which is far from the common indications of consciousness, this course cannot be considered The Path."

"An honest man is believed without an oath, for his reputation swears for him."

"A man of virtue is not one who never fails, but one who rises after every failure."

"While a man's father is alive, look at the bent of his will; when his father is dead, look at his conduct. If for three years he does not alter from the way of his father, he may be called filial."

"If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room."

"The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it."

"To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it."

"Riches and honors acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud."

"If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand."

"Sometimes called by the name "爭臣七人 (争臣七人)"."

"學而不思則罔，思而不學則殆。 To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous."

"A man should say, 'I am not concerned that I have no place, I am concerned how I may fit myself for one.'"

"Worry not that no one knows you; seek to be worth knowing."

"The aged are cared for until death; adults are employed in jobs that make full use of their abilities; and children are nourished, educated, and fostered;...orphans... the disabled and the diseased are all well taken care of...."

"The superior man is quiet and serene; the mean man is always full of distress."

"He that in his studies wholly applies himself to labour and exercise, and neglects meditation, loses his time, and he that only applies himself to meditation, and neglects labour and exercise, only wanders and loses himself. The Morals of Confucius, 2nd edition (London, 1724), Maxim X, p. 114"

"To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short."

"The commander of the forces of a large state may be carried off, but the will of even a common man cannot be taken from him."

"The superior man governs men, according to their nature, with what is proper to them, and as soon as they change what is wrong, he stops."

"I will not be afflicted at men's not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men."

"If a man has no far-reaching fears, he will find near-at-hand sorrows."

"Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness."

"朝聞道、夕死可矣。 If I hear the Way [of truth] in the morning, I am content even to die in that evening."

"The superior man has dignity without pride. The mean man has pride without dignity."

"To be unperturbed by the lack of recognition from others: is this not the mark of the gentleman?"

"【第三章】【一節】司馬牛問仁。"

"非其鬼而祭之，諂也。見義不為，無勇也。 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, you lack courage. Variant: To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle."

"Note: Bowing is a courtesy for the host who invites him as well drinking a cup."

"不憤不啟；不悱不發。擧一隅，不以三隅反，則不復也。 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 himself. When I have presented one corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson."

"Sincerity is the way of Heaven. The attainment of sincerity is the way of men."

"To rank the effort above the prize may be called love. § 6.20"