Quotes from Confucius

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.

The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.

The book salesman should be honored because he brings to our attention, as a rule, the very books we need most and neglect most.

Instead of being concerned that you have no office, be concerned to think how you may fit yourself for office. Instead of being concerned that you are not known, seek to be worthy of being known.

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

The true gentleman does not preach what he practices till he has practiced what he preaches.

If you don't know the life yet, how could be possible for you to know the death?

To be in one's own heart in kindly sympathy with all things; this is the nature of righteousness

Reviewing what you have learned and learning anew, you are fit to be a teacher.

Teachers open the door ... you enter by yourself.

When I am with others, they are my teachers. I can select their good points and follow them, and select their bad points and avoid them.

The ideal teacher guides his students but does not pull them along; he urges them to go forward and does not suppress them; he opens the way but does not take them to the place.

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.

Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others.

Be versed in ancient lore, and familiarize yourself with the modern; then may you become teachers.

If a man keeps cherishing his old knowledge so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of others.

The Master said, "A true teacher is one who, keeping the past alive, is also able to understand the present."

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

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.

How to play music may be known. At the commencement of the piece, all the parts should sound together. As it proceeds, they should be in harmony while severally distinct and flowing without break, and thus on to the conclusion.

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it - this is knowledge.

To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.

We are so busy doing the urgent that we don't have time to do the important.

Study without reflection is a waste of time; reflection without study is dangerous.