Confucius: Trending quotes (page 9)

“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.”

“All people are the same; only their habits differ.”

“Your life is what your thoughts make it.”

“To see and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of wickedness”

“It is when those who are not strong enough have made some moderate amount of progress that they fail and give up…”

“A superior man in dealing with the world is not for anything or against anything. He follows righteousness as the standard.”

“A man without persistence will never make a good shaman or a good physician.”

“Anyone can find the switch after the lights are on.”

“Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.”

“If either wealth or poverty are come by honesty, there is no shame.”

“I am not concerned that I am not known; I seek to be worthy to be known.”

“The cautious seldom err.”

“To be poor without murmuring is difficult. To be rich without being proud is easy.”

“Care not for want of place; care for thy readiness to fill one. Care not for being unknown, but seek to be worthy of note.”

“If I understand Change, I shall make no great mistake in Life”

“The superior man, while there is anything he has not studied, or while in what he has studied there is anything he cannot understand, Will not intermit his labor. While there is anything he has not inquired about, or anything in what he has inquired about which he does not know, he will not intermit his labor. While there is anything which he has not reflected on, or anything in what he has reflected on which he does not apprehend, he will not intermit his labor. While there is anything which he has not discriminated or his discrimination is not clear, he will not intermit his labor. If there be anything which he has not practiced, or his practice fails in earnestness, he will not intermit his labor. If another man succeed by one effort, he will use a hundred efforts. If another man succeed by ten efforts, he will use a thousand. Let a man proceed in this way, and, though dull, he will surely become intelligent; though weak, he will surely become strong.”

“When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them.”

“Sincerity becomes apparent. From being apparent, it becomes manifest. From being manifest, it becomes brilliant. Brilliant, it affects others. Affecting others, they are changed by it. Changed by it, they are transformed. It is only he who is possessed of the most complete sincerity that can exist under heaven, who can transform.”

“The Yin based its propriety on that of the Xia, and what it added and subtracted is knowable. The Zhou has based its propriety on that of the Shang and what it added and subtracted is knowable. In this way, what continues from the Chou, even if 100 generations hence, is knowable.”