Best Confucius Quotes & Sayings

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential ... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. — Confucius

Humanity is an organism, inherently rejecting all that is deleterious, that is, wrong, and absorbing after trial what is beneficial, that is, right. If so disposed, the Architect of the Universe, we must assume, might have made the world and man perfect, free from evil and from pain, as angels in heaven are thought to be; but although this was not done, man has been given the power of advancement rather than of retrogression. The Old and New Testaments remain, like other sacred writings of other lands, of value as records of the past and for such good lessons as they inculcate. Like the ancient writers of the Bible our thoughts should rest upon this life and our duties here. "To perform the duties of this world well, troubling not about another, is the prime wisdom," says Confucius, great sage and teacher. The next world and its duties we shall consider when we are placed in it. — Andrew Carnegie

Cultivated people foster what is good in others,
not what is bad.
Petty people do the opposite. — Confucius

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. — Confucius

There is a certain proper and luxurious way of lying in bed. Confucius, that great artist of life, "never lay straight" in bed, "like a corpse", but always curled up on one side. I believe one of the greatest pleasures of life is to curl up one's legs in bed. The posture of the arms is also very important, in order to reach the greatest degree of aesthetic pleasure and mental power. I believe the best posture is not lying flat on the bed, but being upholstered with big soft pillows at an angle of thirty degrees with either one arm or both arms placed behind the back of one's head. — Lin Yutang

Learning without thought is labour lost. — Confucius

One dedicated worker is worth a thousand slaves. — Confucius

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home. — Confucius

America acknowledged the greatness of Confucius through a trio of ancient lawgivers - Moses flanked by Confucius to his right and Solon on his left - on the monument to "Justice, the Guardian of Liberty" displayed on the eastern pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. — Patrick Mendis

Silence is the true friend that never betrays. — Confucius

Your life is what your thoughts make it. — Confucius

If I understand Change, I shall make no great mistake in Life — Confucius

There are not the weeds the ones that drown the good seed, but the negligence of the peasant. — Confucius

The Master said: 'Artful speech and an ingratiating demeanour rarely accompany virtue. — Confucius

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. — Confucius

The parents age must be remembered, both for joy and anxiety. — Confucius

Slater soaks into the mind as water into low and marshy places, where it becomes stagnant and offensive. — Confucius

A gentleman does not promote a man on account of what he says; nor does he reject sayings, because the speaker is what he is. — Confucius

You know, I met a wise man centuries ago in China who said to me, 'He who lets fear rule him, has fear for a master. (Acheron)
Confucius? (Talon)
No, Minh-Quan. He was a fisherman who used to sell what I'm told was the best zong zi ever made. (Acheron) — Sherrilyn Kenyon

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

It is true that we shall not be able to reach perfection, but in our struggle toward it we shall strengthen our characters and give stability to our ideas, so that, whilst ever advancing calmly in the same direction, we shall be rendered capable of applying the faculties with which we have been gifted to the best possible account. — Confucius

What Confucius tells us to focus on first is not how to bring stability to the world, but how to be the best possible version of ourselves. To "cultivate one's moral character" is the first step towards taking responsibility for the nation, and for society. Confucius and his disciples struggled hard to be "the best version" of themselves, but their aim in this was to better carry out their responsibilities to the society in which they lived. — Yu Dan

There is one single thread binding my way together ... the way of the Master consists in doing one's best ... that is all. — Confucius

Confucius would give his seat to an old woman. Communist cadres, on the other hand, took the best seats and called it a cultural revolution. — Gerald Vizenor

Clever talk and domineering manner have little to with being a Man at His Best. — Confucius

In a hamlet of ten households, there are bound to be those who are my equal in doing their best for others and in being trustworthy in what they say, but they are unlikely to be as eager to learn as I am. — Confucius

In speaking, it is best to be clear and say just enough to convey the meaning. — Confucius

Whatever heaven ordains is best. — Confucius

Unify your attention. Do not listen with your ears, but with your mind. Do not listen with your mind but with your essence. — Confucius

Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their States were rightly governed. Their States being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy. — Confucius

I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was not virtuous. He who loved virtue would esteem nothing above it. — Confucius

The superior man does not mind being in office; all he minds about is whether he has qualities that entitle him to office. He does not mind failing to get recognition; he is too busy doing the things that entitle him to recognition. — Confucius

Only after Winter comes do we know that the pine and the cypress are the last to fade. — Confucius

If I do not participate in the sacrifice, it is as if I did not sacrifice at all. — Confucius

Worry not that no one knows you; seek to be worth knowing. — Confucius

He with whom neither slander that gradually soaks into the mind, nor statements that startle like a wound in the flesh, are successful may be called intelligent indeed. — Confucius

Care not for want of place; care for thy readiness to fill one. Care not for being unknown, but seek to be worthy of note. — Confucius

Eat at your own as you would the table of a king. — Confucius

Those who understands is not better than those who appreciates, those who appreciates is not better than those who enjoys. — Confucius

The general of a large army may be defeated, but you cannot defeat the determined mind of a peasant. — Confucius

All things have beauty, but not everyone sees it — Confucius

Excess and deficiency are equally at fault. — Confucius

Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator. — 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

The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground. — Confucius

The superior man is quiet and calm, waiting for the appointments of heaven, while the mean man walks in dangerous paths, looking for lucky occurrences. — Confucius

Never seek illicit wealth. — Confucius

The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has. — Confucius

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

It is man that makes truth great, not truth that makes man great. — Confucius

The Master said, "A true gentleman is one who has set his heart upon the Way. A fellow who is ashamed merely of shabby clothing or modest meals is not even worth conversing with."
(Analects 4.9) — Confucius

To err and not reform, this may indeed be called error. — Confucius