“If you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage.”

—  Confucius

The Analects, Chapter I, Chapter II
Context: To worship to other than one's own ancestral spirits is brown-nosing. If you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage.
Variant To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle.

Original

非其鬼而祭之，諂也。見義不為，無勇也。

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

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage." by Confucius?
Confucius photo
Confucius 269
Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher -551–-479 BC

Related quotes

Confucius photo

“To worship to other than one's own ancestral spirits is brown-nosing. If you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage.”

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

(zh-TW) 非其鬼而祭之，諂也。見義不為，無勇也。
The Analects, Chapter I, Chapter II

“You are braver and more courageous than you realize; but fail to act or speak out, for fear of displeasing others; the anguish one lives for not acting instinctively, hurts more than if you acted.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1998

Confucius photo

“Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
James Legge photo

“To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.”

James Legge (1815–1897) missionary in China

Bk. 2, Ch. 24 (p. 23)
Translations, The Confucian Analects

Brené Brown photo

“Courage is like—it’s a habitus, a habit, a virtue: You get it by courageous acts. It’s like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

Muhammad Ali Jinnah photo

“You have performed wonders in the past. You are still capable of repeating the history. You are not lacking in the great qualities and virtues in comparison with the other nations. Only you have to be fully conscious of that fact and to act with courage, faith and unity.”

Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876–1948) Founder and 1st Governor General of Pakistan

Message on Pakistan Day, issued from Delhi (23 March 1943)

Khaled Hosseini photo

“you say you have no courage, but i see it in you. what you did, the burden you agreed to shoulder, took courage. for that, i honor you.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

Michel Faber photo

“What you lack is the right connections, and that is what I've brought you here to make: connections.”

Michel Faber book The Crimson Petal and the White

Source: The Crimson Petal and the White (2002), Ch. 1
Context: What you lack is the right connections, and that is what I've brought you here to make: connections. A person who is worth nothing must introduce you to a person worth next-to-nothing, and that person to another, and so on and so forth until finally you can step across the threshold, almost one of the family.

Norman Vincent Peale photo

“If you want a quality, act as if you already have it. If you want to be courageous, act as if you were - and as you act and persevere in acting, so you tend to become.”

Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer
Ayn Rand photo

“What is morality, she asked.
Judgement to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, and courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price.”

Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged

Source: Atlas Shrugged

Related topics