Confucius citations

Page 6

“L’honnête homme envisage les choses du point de vue de la justice; l'homme vulgaire, du point de vue de son intérêt.”

“Qui est encore détesté à l'age de quarante ans, le restera pour toujours.”

“Si seulement il se trouvait un souverain pour m'employer, en un an je mettrais les choses en route, et trois ans après, on aurait des résultats.”

“Il est droit : tout marche sans qu'il doive rien commander. Il n'est pas droit : il a beau commander, nul ne le sait.”

“Fermeté, décision, simplicité et réflexion sont proches de la vertu suprême.”

“L'honnête homme souffre de son incompétence.”

“Du vivant de son père, observez les intentions d'un homme. Après la mort de son père, observez son comportement : si, pendant trois ans, il ne s'écarte pas de la voie que lui a tracée son père, on peut dire que c'est un bon fils.”

“Deux hommes qui suivent des voies différentes ne peuvent se rencontrer.”

“Un homme survit grâce à son honnêteté; les malhonnêtes gens ne doivent leur survie qu'à la chance.”

“L'homme supérieur est vertueux, l'homme inférieur n'a conscience que de l'avantage.”

“On peut obliger le peuple à obéir. On ne peut pas le forcer à comprendre.”

“Se regarder scrupuleusement soi-même, ne regarder que discrètement les autres.”

“Si vos parents tombent dans une faute, avertissez-les avec grande douceur. Si vous les voyez déterminés à ne pas suivre vos avis, redoublez vos témoignages de respect, sans vous opposer. Quand même ils vous maltraiteraient, n’en ayez aucun ressentiment.”

“Avant d'ouvrir la bouche, assure-toi que ce que tu vas dire est plus beau que le silence.”

“Exige beaucoup de toi-même et attend peu des autres.
Beaucoup d'ennuis te seront épargnés.”

“Une politesse qui n'est pas tempérée par le rituel est fastidieuse.”

“Étudier sans réfléchir est vain, mais réfléchir sans apprendre est dangereux.”

“Confucius avoue […] sans ambages qu'il n'est pas fait pour supporter les mœurs de la cour, où les grands cultivent tour à tour attitude hautaine et génuflexions serviles pour obtenir faveurs et promotions. Il va jusqu'à dire que, en temps de troubles et de décadence, le mieux est de fuir son époque ou de partir pour un autre pays, et loue encore ceux qui ont su prendre congé à cause d'un simple regard ou pour un simple mot.”

“S'il existait une méthode honnête pour devenir riche, au besoin je me ferais bien palefrenier. Mais comme pareille méthode n'existe pas, autant suivre mes propres inclinaisons.”

“Souciez-vous d'être digne d'un emploi et cherchez à faire quelque chose de remarquable.”

“Je n'ai jamais vu quelqu'un qui aimât la vertu autant que le sexe.”

“Rendez la justice pour le mal, et le bien pour le bien.”

“Tout le plaisir d'un roi, c'est de n'être jamais contredit.”

“Pour un pauvre, il est difficile d'être sans amertume. Pour un riche, il est facile d'être sans arrogance.”

“Celui qui sait et sait qu'il sait est un sage - suivez-le ;
Celui qui ne sait pas et ne sait pas qu'il ne sait pas est un fou - fuyez-le.”

“Never tire to study. And to teach to others”

“He who flatters a man is his enemy. he who tells him of his faults is his maker.”

“If there were an honorable way to get rich, I’d do it, even if it meant being a stooge standing around with a whip. But there isn’t an honorable way, so I just do what I like.”

“Humankind differs from the animals only by a little and most people throw that away.”

“Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.”

“Not to discuss with a man worthy of conversation is to waste the man. To discuss with a man not worthy of conversation is to waste words. The wise waste neither men nor words.”

“The expectations of life depend upon diligence the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.”

“Act with kindness but do not expect gratitude.”

“The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.”

“If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things.”

“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.”