Confucianism

For Windows right click and choose "Save Image As..."
For Macintosh hold mouse button down and choose "Save Image As..."

Search this site powered by FreeFind

•  "Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned? Isn't it also great when friends visit from distant places? If people do not recognize me and it doesn't bother me, am I not a Superior Man?"

• "Someone who is a clever speaker and maintains a 'too-smiley' face is seldom considered a humane person."

• "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."

• "A young man should serve his parents at home and be respectful to elders outside his home. He should be earnest and truthful, loving all, but become intimate with humaneness. After doing this, if he has energy to spare, he can study literature and the arts."

• If the Superior Man is not serious, then he will not inspire awe in others. If he is not learned, then he will not be on firm ground. He takes loyalty and good faith to be of primary importance, and has no friends who are not of equal (moral) caliber. When he makes a mistake, he doesn't hesitate to correct it."

•  "When your father is alive, observe his will. When your father is dead observe his former actions. If, for three years you do not change from the ways of your father, you can be called a 'real son (hsiao).'"

•  "When the Superior Man eats he does not try to stuff himself; at rest he does not seek perfect comfort; he is diligent in his work and careful in speech. He avails himself to people of the Tao and thereby corrects himself. This is the kind of person of whom you can say, 'he loves learning.'"

• "I am not bothered by the fact that I am unknown. I am bothered when I do not know others."

• "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 mandate of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart's desire without transgressing the norm."

• "See a person's means (of getting things). Observe his motives. Examine that in which he rests. How can a person conceal his character? How can a person conceal his character?"

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

• "The Superior Man is all-embracing and not partial. The inferior man is partial and not all-embracing."

• "To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous."

• "To throw oneself into strange teachings is quite dangerous."

• "You, shall I teach you about knowledge? What you know, you know, what you don't know, you don't know. This is advisable."

•  "Listen widely to remove your doubts and be careful when speaking about the rest and your mistakes will be few. See much and get rid of what is dangerous and be careful in acting on the rest and your causes for regret will be few. Speaking without fault, acting without causing regret: 'upgrading' consists in this."

•  "The Shang based its propriety on that of the Yin, and what it added and subtracted is knowable. The Chou 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."

• : "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."

• "If a man has no humaneness what can his propriety be like? If a man has no humaneness what can his music be like?"

• : "The Superior Man has nothing to compete for. But if he must compete, he does it in an archery match, wherein he ascends to his position, bowing in deference. Descending, he drinks the ritual cup. This is the competition of the Superior Man."

• "The Superior Man is aware of Righteousness, the inferior man is aware of advantage."

• "When you see a good person, think of becoming like her/him. When you see someone not so good, reflect on your own weak points."

• "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."

• "They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it."

•  "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."

•  "To give one's self earnestly to the duties due to men, and, while respecting spiritual beings, to keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom."

• "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."

•  "The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills. The wise are active; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful; the virtuous are long-lived."

•  "The superior man, extensively studying all learning, and keeping himself under the restraint of the rules of propriety, may thus likewise not overstep what is right."

• : "The silent treasuring up of knowledge; learning without satiety; and instructing others without being wearied:-which one of these things belongs to me?"

•  "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."

•  "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."

• The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress."

About Confucius
Back