Confucius: Trending quotes

Confucius trending quotes. Read the latest quotes in collection

Confucius: 538 quotes101 likes

“Of all people, girls and servants are the most difficult to behave to. If you are familiar with them, they lose their humility. If you maintain a reserve towards them, they are discontented.”

Book XVII, Chapter XXV.
Source: The Analects, Other chapters

“You [a disciple], shall I teach you about knowledge? What you know, you know, what you don't know, you don't know. This is true wisdom.”

Source: The Analects, Chapter II

“It is soft, smooth and shining—like intelligence. Its edges seem sharp but do not cut—like justice. It hangs down to the ground—like humility. When struck, it gives a clear, ringing sound—like music. The strains in it are not hidden and add to its beauty—like truthfulness.’ What imagination!”

Confucius extolled Jade's virtues this way. Cited in Awake! magazine 1987, 9/22.
Source: The Analects, Other chapters

“To those whose talents are above mediocrity, the highest subjects may be announced. To those who are below mediocrity, the highest subjects may not be announced.”

Source: The Analects, Chapter VI

“It is only he, possessed of all sagely qualities that can exist under heaven, who shows himself quick in apprehension, clear in discernment, of far-reaching intelligence, and all-embracing knowledge, fitted to exercise rule; magnanimous, generous, benign, and mild, fitted to exercise forbearance; impulsive, energetic, firm, and enduring, fitted to maintain a firm hold; self-adjusted, grave, never swerving from the Mean, and correct, fitted to command reverence; accomplished, distinctive, concentrative, and searching, fitted to exercise discrimination. All-embracing is he and vast, deep and active as a fountain, sending forth in their due season his virtues. All-embracing and vast, he is like Heaven. Deep and active as a fountain, he is like the abyss. He is seen, and the people all reverence him; he speaks, and the people all believe him; he acts, and the people all are pleased with him.”

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

“There is no body but eats and drinks. But they are few who can distinguish flavors.”

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

“It is said in the Book of Poetry, "In silence is the offering presented, and the spirit approached to; there is not the slightest contention." Therefore the superior man does not use rewards, and the people are stimulated to virtue. He does not show anger, and the people are awed more than by hatchets and battle-axes.”

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

“To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.”

As quoted in Walden (1854) by Henry David Thoreau, Ch. 1
Attributed

“When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not far from the path. What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others.”

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

“Leaving virtue without proper cultivation; not thoroughly discussing what is learned; not being able to move towards righteousness of which a knowledge is gained; and not being able to change what is not good: — these are the things which occasion me solicitude.”

Source: The Analects, Other chapters

“Only after Winter comes do we know that the pine and the cypress are the last to fade.”

Source: The Analects, Other chapters

“He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place when all the stars are rotating about it.”

Variant: The Master said, "He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it."
Source: The Analects, Other chapters

“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.”

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

“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 of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart's desire without overstepping the boundaries of what was right.”

Retrospection of his own life. From this phrase, alternative names for each decades of human life are derived in Chinese.
Source: The Analects, Chapter II

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Misattributed to Confucius since at least 1985; correct origins are dubious, as mentioned in "Choose a Job You Love, and You Will Never Have To Work a Day in Your Life" at QuoteInvestigator.com (2 September 2014) http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/02/job-love/: the oldest English-language use of the proverb has been found in Woolfolk, Ann, "Toshiko Takaezu," Princeton Alumni Weekly, Vol. 83(5), 6 October 1982, p. 32: "Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life." (attributed to Arthur Szathmary, who attributes it, in his turn, to an unnamed source). <br class="br">Misattributed, Not Chinese

“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.”

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

“Among the appliances to transform the people, sound and appearances are but trivial influences.”

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

“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 escape. Men all say, "We are wise"; but happening to choose the course of the Mean, they are not able to keep it for a round month.”

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

“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 not going to listen to you, keep your respect for them and don't distance yourself from them. Work without complaining.”

Source: The Analects, Other chapters

“Within the four seas, all men are brothers.”

Source: The Analects, Chapter XII