Quotes from Confucius

Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.

Tzu-chang asked Master K'ung about Goodness. Master K'ung said, He who could put the Five into practice everywhere under Heaven would be Good. Tzu-chang begged to hear what these were. The Master said, Courtesy, breadth, good faith, diligence, and clemency.

Neither the knight who has truly the heart of a knight nor the man of good stock who has the qualities that belong to good stock will ever seek life at the expense of Goodness; and it may be that he has to give his life in order to achieve Goodness.

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

To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.

The object of the superior man is truth.

Heaven means to be one with God.

The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest success only comes later.

A scholar who loves comfort is not fit to be called a scholar.

Study the past, if you would divine the future.

I for my part am not one of those who have innate knowledge. I am simply one who loves the past and who is diligent in investigating it.

There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life - reciprocity.

Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you.

To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.

What is over and done with, one does not discuss. What has already taken its course, one does not criticize; what already belongs to the past, one does not censure.

Goodness is more to the people than water and fire. I have seen men lose their lives when "treading upon" water and fire; but I have never seen anyone lose his life through "treading upon" Goodness.

The demands that a gentleman makes are upon himself; those that a small man makes are upon others.

If we don't know life, how can we know death?

The Duke of Shê asked about government. The Master said, When the near approve and the distant approach.

Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.

He who is influenced neither by the soaking in of slander nor by the assault of denunciation may indeed be called illumined.

Is Goodness indeed so far away? If we really wanted Goodness, we should find that it was at our very side.

He who will not worry about what is far off will soon find something worse than worry close at hand.

He whose wisdom brings him into power, needs Goodness to secure that power. Else, though he get it, he will certainly lose it.