Confucius Quotes - Page 3

The Master said, “Wealth and honor are things that all people desire, and yet unless they are acquired in the proper way I will not abide them. Poverty and disgrace are things that all people hate, and yet unless they are avoided in the proper way I will not despise them. “If the gentleman abandons ren, how can he be worthy of that name? The gentleman does not violate ren even for the amount of time required to eat a meal. Even in times of urgency or distress, he does not depart from it.”(Analects 4.5)

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.

When the Master entered the great temple he asked about everything. Someone said, ‘Who will say that this son of the man of Zou knows about ritual? When he enters the temple, he asks about everything’. The Master heard of it and said, ‘This is the ritual’.

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.

There is nothing more real than what cannot be seen and there is nothing more certain than what cannot be heard.

A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake.

Lead the people with administrative injunctions and put them in their place with penal law, and they will avoid punishments but will be without a sense of shame. Lead them with excellence and put them in their place through roles and ritual practices, and in addition to developing a sense of shame, they will order themselves harmoniously

In following the Way, the noble-minded treasure three things: a manner free of violence and arrogance, a countenance full of sincerity and trust, a voice free of vulgarity and impropriety.

The Master said, "I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or onewho hated what was not virtuous. He who loved virtue, would esteemnothing above it. He who hated what is not virtuous, would practicevirtue in such a way that he would not allow anything that is notvirtuous to approach his person."Is any one able for one day to apply his strength to virtue? I havenot seen the case in which his strength would be insufficient."Should there possibly be any such case, I have not seen it.

The noble-minded encourage what is beautiful in people and discourage what is ugly in them. Little people do just the opposite.

Where words lose their meaning, people lose their lives.

Think of tomorrow, the past can't be mended.

The superior man is modest in his speech but excels in his actions.

Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know more.

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

If a man take no thought about what is distant he will find sorrow near at hand.

The cautious seldom err.

Lord Chi Wen thought three times before taking any action. When the Master heard this, he said: Twice is plenty enough.

The funniest people are the saddest ones

He who will not economize will have to agonize.

It is when those who are not strong enough have made some moderate amount of progress that they fail and give up...

There are three marks of a superior man: being virtuous he is free from anxiety being wise he is free from perplexity being brave he is free from fear.

The noble-minded worry about their lack of ability, not about people’s failure to recognize their ability.