“When your father is alive, observe his will. When your father is dead observe his former actions. If, for three years [after the death of your father] you do not change from the ways of your father, you can be called a 'real son (xiào/hsiao).”

— Confucius

The Analects, Chapter I, Chapter IV

Original

父在，觀其志；父殁，觀其行；三年无改於父之道，可謂孝矣。

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Confucius 269

Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher -551–-479 BC

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