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Yi Hwang Quotes

Yi Hwang is one of the two most prominent Korean Confucian scholars of the Joseon Dynasty, the other being his younger contemporary Yi I . A key figure of the Neo-Confucian literati, he established the Yeongnam School and set up the Dosan Seowon, a private Confucian academy. Yi Hwang is often referred to by his pen name Toegye . His courtesy name was Gyeongho.

✵ 1501 – 1570
Yi Hwang photo
Yi Hwang: 4 quotes2 likes

Famous Yi Hwang Quotes

“The ancients see me not, nor I, the ancients,
Though I see the ancients not, the Way they trod is before me,
Their Way before me, can I but follow.”

Yi Hwang

The old teacher never saw me; he lived long before my time.
Though I may never meet him, I can see the road he traveled.
With his wise road before me, what reason for me to stray?
Twelve Songs of Dosan

“Even ignorant men seek perfection; perhaps the way is easy.
Not even wise men can be perfect; perhaps the way is difficult.
Easy or difficult, between the two, I do not feel the advance of age.”

Yi Hwang

Twelve Songs of Dosan

“How do the green mountains through the ages remain green?
How do the flowing waters day and night keep flowing?
Let us not cease either but throught the ages remain green.”

Yi Hwang

Twelve Songs of Dosan

“…[T]he Confucian way of learning is that in order to ascend to lofty heights one must begin with the lowly, to travel afar one must begin with what is near. Indeed, to begin from the lowly and near certainly is a slow process. But apart from it, whence comes the lofty and distant? In applying one’s efforts to gradual advancement one attain what is lofty and distant without parting from what is lowly and near; it is in this that it is different from Buddhist and Daoist learning.”

Yi Hwang

Source: Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning, Ch. 3. Diagram Of The Elementary Learning http://faculty.washington.edu/mkalton/10dia%20ch%203%20web.htm

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