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Confucius Quotes
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Confucius was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period.

The philosophy of Confucius, also known as Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness, and sincerity. His followers competed successfully with many other schools during the Hundred Schools of Thought era only to be suppressed in favor of the Legalists during the Qin dynasty. Following the victory of Han over Chu after the collapse of Qin, Confucius's thoughts received official sanction in the new government and were further developed into a system known in the West as Neo-Confucianism, and later New Confucianism .

Confucius is traditionally credited with having authored or edited many of the Chinese classic texts including all of the Five Classics, but modern scholars are cautious of attributing specific assertions to Confucius himself. Aphorisms concerning his teachings were compiled in the Analects, but only many years after his death.

Confucius's principles have commonality with Chinese tradition and belief. He championed strong family loyalty, ancestor veneration, and respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives, recommending family as a basis for ideal government. He espoused the well-known principle "Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself", the Golden Rule. He is also a traditional deity in Daoism.

Confucius is widely considered as one of the most important and influential individuals in shaping human history. His teaching and philosophy greatly impacted people around the world and remains influential today. Wikipedia  

✵ 551 BC – 479 BC
Confucius photo
Confucius: 269   quotes 95   likes

Confucius Quotes

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

Confucius

Source: The Wisdom Of Confucius

Strong

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

Confucius
World

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Great Learning

Learning

“The cautious seldom err.”

Confucius

Source: The Analects, Chapter IV

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

Confucius

Source: The Analects of Confucius

“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.”

Confucius

Source: Sayings of Confucius

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Way , Intelligence , Understanding , Effort

“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.”

Confucius

§ 21, as translated by James Legge
Variant translations:
When I walk along with two others, from at least one I will be able to learn.
Walking among three people, I find my teacher among them. I choose that which is good in them and follow it, and that which is bad and change it.
The Analects, Chapter I, Chapter VII

Teachers

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Change , Sincerity

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Analects, Chapter III

Way

“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.”

Confucius

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

People , Girl

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Analects, Chapter II

Wisdom , Knowledge

“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

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

Truth , Justice , Beauty , Music

“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.”

Confucius

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.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

People , Exercises , Search , Intelligence

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

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Drink

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

People , Books , Silence , Anger

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

Confucius

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

Knowledge

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Exercises , Nature

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Analects, Other chapters

Knowledge , Learning , Change

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

Confucius

Source: The Analects, Other chapters

Winter

“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.”

Confucius

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

Exercises , Star

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Perfection , Happiness

“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.”

Confucius

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

Learning , Heart

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

Confucius

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).
Misattributed, Not Chinese

love , Cute , Back To Work , Romantic

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Men

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

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

People , Appearance

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Men

“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.”

Confucius

Source: The Analects, Other chapters

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

Confucius

Source: The Analects, Chapter XII

Men , Sea

“The way of the superior man may be found, in its simple elements, in the intercourse of common men and women; but in its utmost reaches, it shines brightly through Heaven and Earth.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Women , Men , Way

“Well governed, poverty, ill governed, wealth a disgrace.”

Confucius

The Ethics of Confucius https://books.google.ca/books?id=dYfFFik3e0YC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Cosimo Inc, 2005, p. 318 of Index under "People, the Nourishment of".
:Variation: To be wealthy in an unjust society is a disgrace.
Attributed

Wealth

“The kingdom, its states, and its families, may be perfectly ruled; dignities and emoluments may be declined; naked weapons may be trampled under the feet; but the course of the Mean cannot be attained to.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Family

“If you would govern a state of a thousand chariots (a small-to-middle-size state), you must pay strict attention to business, be true to your word, be economical in expenditure and love the people. You should use them according to the seasons (i. e. You should not enlist farmers during seeding or harvest time).”

Confucius

The Analects, Chapter I

Love , People , Business , Time

“The superior man honors his virtuous nature, and maintains constant inquiry and study, seeking to carry it out to its breadth and greatness, so as to omit none of the more exquisite and minute points which it embraces, and to raise it to its greatest height and brilliancy, so as to pursue the course of the Mean. He cherishes his old knowledge, and is continually acquiring new. He exerts an honest, generous earnestness, in the esteem and practice of all propriety. Thus, when occupying a high situation he is not proud, and in a low situation he is not insubordinate. When the kingdom is well governed, he is sure by his words to rise; and when it is ill governed, he is sure by his silence to command forbearance to himself.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Nature , Knowledge , Study , Silence

“To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.”

Confucius

Variant: Learning without reflection is a waste, reflection without learning is dangerous.
Source: The Analects, Chapter II

Thinking , Study

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”

Confucius

Atwood H. Townsend, editor of Good Reading, various editions from at least 1960
Misattributed, Not Chinese

Business , Thinking , Time , Reading

“Being in humaneness is good. If we select other goodness and thus are far apart from humaneness, how can we be the wise?”

Confucius

The opening phrase of this chapter after which the chapter is named in Chinese.
Source: The Analects, Chapter IV

“Reviewing what you have learned and learning anew, you are fit to be a teacher.”

Confucius

Source: The Analects, Chapter II

Learning , Teachers

“The superior man, even when he is not moving, has a feeling of reverence, and while he speaks not, he has the feeling of truthfulness.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

Truth , Feeling

“How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to them! We look for them, but do not see them; we listen to, but do not hear them; yet they enter into all things, and there is nothing without them.”

Confucius

Source: The Doctrine of the Mean

“The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration.”

Confucius

Variant: The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration: this may be called perfect virtue.
Source: The Analects, Other chapters

Business , Success