Confucius Quotes

Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.

If your desire is for good, the people will be good.

People with virtue must speak out; People who speak are not all virtuous.

The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others, and does not accentuate the bad. The inferior does.

We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.

He who will not economize will have to agonize.

The cautious seldom err.

There are some with whom we may study in common, but we shall find them unable to go along with us to principles. Perhaps we may go on with them to principles, but we shall find them unable to get established in those along with us. Or if we may get so established along with them, we shall find them unable to weigh occurring events along with us.

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

Don’t do unto others what you don’t want others to do unto you.

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

You cannot open a book without learning something.

If your plan is for one year plant rice. If your plan is for ten years plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.

The scholar does not consider gold and jade to be precious treasures, but loyalty and good faith.

We should keep the dead before our eyes, and honor them as though still living.

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.

The demands that good people make are upon themselves; Those that bad people make are upon others.

There is never a case when the root is diseased and yet the branches are healthy.

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.

Don’t look for a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there.

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

To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.

You will never know how sharp a sword is unless it’s drawn from its sheath

A superior man in dealing with the world is not for anything or against anything. He follows righteousness as the standard.

Return good for good; return evil with justice.

Behind every smile there’s teeth.

Humankind differs from the animals only by a little and most people throw that away.

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.

The Essence of Knowledge is, having it, to use it.