Confucius - Analects

143 Sourced Quotes

View all Confucius Quotes
He who learns but does not think, is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

Confucius
Women and servants are most difficult to deal with. If you are familiar with them, they cease to be humble. If you keep a distance from them, they resent it.

Confucius
Is it not a pleasure to learn and to repeat or practice from time to time what has been learned? Is it not delightful to have friends coming from afar? Is one not a superior man if he does not feel hurt even though he does not feel recognized?

Confucius
It is man that can make the Way great, and not the Way that can make man great.

Confucius
Let a man be stimulated by poetry, established by the rules of propriety, and perfected by music.

Confucius
Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.

Confucius
The noble-minded are calm and steady. Little people are forever fussing and fretting.

Confucius
The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

Confucius
When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.

Confucius
I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.

Confucius
Does Heaven say anything? The four seasons run their course and all things are produced. Does Heaven say anything?

Confucius
Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.

Confucius
The way of the superior man is threefold, but I have not been able to attain it. The man of wisdom has no perplexities; the man of humanity has no worry; the man of courage has no fear.

Confucius
The good man does not grieve
that other people do not recognize his merits.
His only anxiety is lest he should fail to recognize theirs.

Confucius
When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.

Confucius
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.

Confucius
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
At fifteen my mind was set on learning. At thirty my character had been formed. At forty I had no more perplexities. At fifty I knew the Mandate of Heaven. At sixty I was at ease with whatever I heard. At seventy I could follow my heart's desire without transgressing moral principles.

Confucius
That a man lives is because he is straight. That a man who dupes others survives is because he has been fortunate enough to be spared.

Confucius
The superior man... does not set his mind either for anything, or against anything; what is right he will follow.

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

Confucius
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
Just as lavishness leads easily to presumption, so does frugality to meanness. But meanness is a far less serious fault than presumption.

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
Learn, as if never overtaking your object, and yet as if apprehensive of losing it.

Confucius
If I cannot get men who steer a middle course to associate with, I would far rather have the impetuous and hasty. For the impetuous at any rate assert themselves.

Confucius
The administration of government lies in getting proper men. Such men are to be got by means of the ruler's own character. That character is to be cultivated by his treading in the ways of duty. And the treading those ways of duty is to be cultivated by the cherishing of benevolence.

Confucius
The really faithful lover of learning holds fast to the Good Way till death.

Confucius
In old days men studied for the sake of self-improvement; nowadays men study in order to impress other people.

Confucius
If one is guided by profit in one's actions, one will incur much ill will.

Confucius