Confucius

(551 BC - 479 BC)

• 「学而时习之，不亦说乎？有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎？人不知而不愠，不亦君子乎？」
  • Translation: "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?"

• 「巧言令色，鲜矣仁！」
  • Translation: "Someone who is a clever speaker and maintains a 'too-smiley' face is seldom considered a humane person."

• 「道千乘之国，敬事而信，节用而爱人，使民以时。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「弟子，入则孝，出则弟，谨而信，凡爱众，而亲仁。行有馀力，则以学文。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「君子不重，则不威；学则不固。主忠信。无友不如己者。过，则勿惮改。」
  • Translation: "If the Superior Man is not 'heavy, ' 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."

• 「父在，观其志；父没，观其行；三年无改於父之道，可谓孝矣。」
  • Translation: "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).'"

• 「君子食无求饱，居无求安，敏於事而慎於言，就有道而正焉，可谓好学也已。」
  • Translation: "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.'"

• 「不患人之不己之，患不知人也。」
  • Translation: "I am not bothered by the fact that I am unknown. I am bothered when I do not know others."

• 「吾十有五而志于学，三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳顺，七十而从

• • Translation: "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."

• 「视其所以，观其所由，察其所安。人焉叟哉？人焉叟哉？」
  • Translation: "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?"

• 「温故而知新，可以为师矣。」
  • Translation: "Reviewing what you have learned and learning anew, you are fit to be a teacher."

• 「君子周而不比，小人比而不周。」
  • Translation: "The Superior Man is all-embracing and not partial. The inferior man is partial and not all-embracing."

• 「学而不思则罔，思而不学则殆。」
  • Translation: "To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous."

• 「攻乎异端，斯害也己。」
  • Translation: "To throw oneself into strange teachings is quite dangerous."

• 「由！诲女知之乎！知之为知之，不知为不知，是知也。」
  • Translation: "Yu, shall I teach you about knowledge? What you know, you know, what you don't know, you don't know. This is knowledge."

• 「多闻阙疑，慎言其馀，则寡尤。多见阙殆，慎行其馀，则寡悔。言寡尤，行寡悔，禄在其中矣。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「殷因於夏礼，所损益，可知也；周因於殷礼，所损益，可知也。其或继周者，虽百世，可知也。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「非其鬼而祭之，谄也。见义不为，无勇也。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「人而不仁，如礼何？人而不仁，如乐何？」
  • Translation: "If a man has no humaneness what can his propriety be like? If a man has no humaneness what can his music be like?"

• 「君子无所争。必也射乎！揖让而升，下而饮。其争也君子。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「君子喻於义，小人喻於利。」
  • Translation: "The Superior Man is aware of Righteousness, the inferior man is aware of advantage."

• 「见贤思齐焉；见不贤而内自省也。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「事父母几谏，见志不从，又敬不违，劳而不怨。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「知之者不如好之者，好之者不如乐之者。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「中人以上，可以语上也；中人以下，不可以语上也。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「务民之义，敬鬼神而远之，可谓知矣。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「仁者先难而後获，可谓仁矣。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「知者乐水，仁者乐山。知者动，仁者静。知者乐，仁者寿。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「君子博学於文，约之以礼，亦可以弗畔矣夫！」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「默而识之，学而不厌，诲人不倦，何有於我哉？」
  • Translation: "The silent treasuring up of knowledge; learning without satiety; and instructing others without being wearied:-which one of these things belongs to me?"

• 「德之不修，学之不讲，闻义不能徒，不善不能改，是吾忧也。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「三人行，必有我师焉：择其善者而从之，其不善者而改之。」
  • Translation: "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."

• 「君子坦荡荡，小人长戚戚。」
  • Translation: "The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress."

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes. Confucius

- More quotations on: [Kindness] 

- More quotations on: [Anger] 

- More quotations on: [Friendship] 

- More quotations on: [Faith] 

- More quotations on: [Learning] 

- More quotations on: [Kindness] 

- More quotations on: [Simplicity] 

- More quotations on: [Success] 

When a man's knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again. Confucius, The Confucian Analects

- More quotations on: [Knowledge]