Confucius - Man Quotes

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In archery we have something like the way of the superior man. When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.

Confucius
Look closely into his aims, observe the means by which he pursues them, discover what brings him content - and can the man's real worth remain hidden from you?

Confucius
If we are not yet able to serve man, how can we serve spiritual beings?…If we do not yet know about life how can we know about death?

Confucius
A man who reviews the old so as to find out the new is qualified to teach others.

Confucius
The superior man cannot be known in little matters, but he may be entrusted with great concerns. The small man may not be entrusted with great concerns, but he may be known in little matters.

Confucius
A man may not transgress the bounds of major morals, but may make errors in minor morals.

Confucius
From the loving example of one family a whole State may become loving, and from its courtesies, courteous; while from the ambition and perverseness of the one man the whole State may be thrown into rebellious disorder. Such is the nature of influence.

Confucius
The small man thinks that small acts of goodness are of no benefit, and does not do them; and that small deeds of evil do no harm, and does not refrain from them. Hence, his wickedness becomes so great that it cannot be concealed, and his guilt so great that it cannot be pardoned.

Confucius
A superior man may be made to go to the well, but he cannot be made to go down into it. He may be imposed upon, but he cannot be fooled.

Confucius
The commander of three armies may be taken away but the will of even a common man may not be taken away from him.

Confucius
The man of wisdom delights in water; the man of humanity delights in mountains. The man of wisdom is active; the man of humanity is tranquil. The man of wisdom enjoys happiness; the man of humanity enjoys long life.

Confucius
Man is born for uprightness. If a man lose his uprightness, and yet live, his escape from death is the effect of mere good fortune.

Confucius
Let every man consider virtue as what devolves on himself. He may not yield the performance of it even to his teacher.

Confucius
The superior man is broadminded but not partisan; the inferior man is partisan but not broadminded.

Confucius
When the multitude detests a man, inquiry is necessary; when the multitude likes a man, inquiry is equally necessary.

Confucius
Great as heaven and earth are, men still find some things in them with which to be dissatisfied. Thus it is that, were the superior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing in the world would be found able to embrace it, and were he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world would be found able to split it.

Confucius
When a man comes to me, I accept him at his best, not at his worst. Why make so much ado? When a man washes his hands before paying a visit, and you receive him in that clean state, you do not thereby stand surety for his always having been clean in the past.

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

Confucius
Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues, and careful in speaking about them, if, in his practice, he has anything defective, the superior man dares not but exert himself; and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license.

Confucius
It is the way of the superior man to prefer the concealment of his virtue, while it daily becomes more illustrious, and it is the way of the mean man to seek notoriety, while he daily goes more and more to ruin.

Confucius
If a superior man abandon virtue, how can he fulfil the requirements of that name?

Confucius
The superior man, even when he is not moving, has a feeling of reverence, and while he speaks not, he has the feeling of truthfulness.

Confucius
Sincerity is that whereby self-completion is effected, and its way is that by which man must direct himself.

Confucius
The superior man is distressed by his want of ability.

Confucius
The Path is not far from man. When men try to pursue a course, which is far from the common indications of consciousness, this course cannot be considered The Path.

Confucius
In vain I have looked for a single man capable of seeing his own faults and bringing the charge home against himself.

Confucius
Man is born with uprightness. If one loses it he will be lucky if he escapes with his life.

Confucius
Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.

Confucius
Therefore the superior man is watchful over himself, when he is alone.

Confucius
When a man feels the difficulty of doing, can he be other than cautious and slow in speaking?

Confucius