Confucius Quotes

“To know is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.”

“If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults.”

“Don't worry that other people don't know you;worry that you don't know other people.”

“Happiness does not consist in having what you want, but in wanting what you have”

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

“Coarse rice to eat, water to drink, my bended arm for a pillow - therein is happiness. Wealth and rank attained through immoral means are nothing but drifting clouds.”

“Wealth and rank are what men desire, but unless they be obtained in the right way they may not be possessed. Poverty and obscurity are what men detest; but unless prosperity be brought about in the right way, they are not to be abandoned.”

“The superior man is firm in the right way and not merely firm.”

“The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has.”

“If you lead the people with correctness, who will dare not be correct?”

“Therefore only through education does one come to be dissatisfied with his own knowledge, and only through teaching others does one come to realize the uncomfortable inadequacy of his knowledge. Being dissatisfied with his own knowledge, one then realizes that the trouble lies with himself, and realizing the uncomfortable inadequacy of his knowledger.”

“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.”

“The gentleman sees what is right while the small man sees what is profitable.”

“If a man remembers what is right at the sign of profit, is ready to lay down his life in the face of danger, and does not forget sentiments he has repeated all his life when he has been in straitened circumstances for a long time, he may be said to be a complete man.”

“Be faithful and true of word; let thy walk be plain and lowly: thou wilt get on, though in savage land. If thy words be not faithful and true, thy walk plain and lowly, wilt thou get on, though in thine own home? Standing, see these words ranged before thee; driving, see them written upon the yoke. Then thou wilt get on.”

“Let every man consider virtue as what devolves on himself. He may not yield the performance of it even to his teacher.”

“Everyone calls his son his son, whether he has talents or has not talents.”

“Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.”

“If an urn lacks the characteristics of an urn, how can we call it an urn?”

“He who chases two rabbits, catches none.”

“Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass.”

“We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.”

“A youth, when at home, should be filial and, abroad, respectful to his elders. He should be earnest and truthful. He should overflow in love to all and cultivate the friendship of the good. When he has time and opportunity, after the performance of these things, he should employ them in polite studies.”

“A man of wisdom delights in water.”

“A gentleman can see a question from all sides without bias.The small man is biased and can see a question only from one side.”