Confucius Quotes

If I do not participate in the sacrifice, it is as if I did not sacrifice at all.

There are not the weeds the ones that drown the good seed, but the negligence of the peasant.

The superior man does not mind being in office; all he minds about is whether he has qualities that entitle him to office. He does not mind failing to get recognition; he is too busy doing the things that entitle him to recognition.

When prosperity comes, do not use all of it.

Stars are holes in the sky from which the light of the infinite shines.

True goodness springs from a man's own heart. All men are born good.

Character is the backbone of our human culture. Music is the flowering of character.

Do not wish for quick results, nor look for small advantages. If you seek quick results, you will not reach the ultimate goal. If you are led astray by small advantages, you will never accomplish great things.

The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.

The gentleman holds justice to be of highest importance. If a gentleman has courage but neglects justice, he becomes insurgent. If an inferior man has courage but neglects justice, he becomes a thief.

The superior man cannot be known in little matters, but he may be entrusted with great concerns. The small man may not be entrusted with great concerns, but he may be known in little matters.

If a superior man abandon virtue, how can he fulfil the requirements of that name?

Heaven begat Virtue in me; what can man do unto me?

Learn as though you would never be able to master it; hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it.

Excessive (population) growth may reduce output per worker, repress levels of living for the masses and engender strife

A good man regards the root; he fixes the root, and ail else flows out of it. The root is filial piety; the fruit brotherly love.

If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things.

The man who loves his job never works a day in his life.

Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend upon heaven.

Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection, and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish.

In a State, pecuniary gain is not to be considered to be prosperity, but its prosperity will be found in righteousness.

The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself.

Respect yourself and others will respect you.

Rotten wood cannot be carved.

When you have become one with the Great Universal, you will have no partiality, and when you are part of the process of transformation, you will have no rigidity.

To be excellent when engaged in administration is to be like the North Star. As it remains in its one position, all the other stars surround it.

Better than the one who knows what is right is the one who loves what is right.

Straight-forwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes rudeness.

Silence is a true friend who never betrays.

Women and people of low birth are very hard to deal with. If you are friendly to them, they get out of hand, and if you keep your distance, they resent it.

The Man who says he can, and the man who says he can not.. Are both correct

Good is no hermit. It has ever neighbors.

The Superior Man is aware of Righteousness, the inferior man is aware of advantage.

To love a thing means wanting it to live.

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

There may be men who act without understanding why. I do not. To listen much, pick out the good and follow it; to see much and ponder it: this comes next to understanding.

The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat.

Tsze-Kung asked, “Is there one word with which to act in accordance throughout a lifetime?” The Master said, “Is not reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

Is there any one maxim which ought to be acted upon throughout one's whole life? Surely the maxim of loving kindness is such: Do not unto others what you would not they should do unto you.

There are 1,000 lessons in defeat. But only one in victory.

Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned?

Those who are firm, enduring, simple and unpretentious are the nearest to virtue.

The superior man is distressed by his want (lack) of ability

Woman is the masterpiece.

Listen widely to remove your doubts and be careful when speaking about the rest and your mistakes will be few.

You do not understand even life. How can you understand death?

In language clarity is everything.

An angry person is always full of poison.