Famous Quotes

Quotes by Confucius

• An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.
• By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest Second, by imitation, which is easiest and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
• Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
• Death and life have their determined appointments riches and honors depend upon heaven.
• Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
• Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.
• He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.
• He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.
• He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.
• Heaven means to be one with God.
• I will not be concerned at other men's not knowing meI will be concerned at my own want of ability.
• If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.
• If we don't know life, how can we know death?
• If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?
• It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve and bad things are very easy to get.
• It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.
• Learning without thought is labor lost thought without learning is perilous.
• Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
• Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself.
• 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.
• Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.
• Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
• Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.
• Speak the truth, do not yield to anger give, if thou art asked for little by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.
• Study the past, if you would divine the future.
• Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.
• The cautious seldom err.
• The expectations of life depend upon diligence the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.
• The faults of a superior person are like the sun and moon. They have their faults, and everyone sees them they change and everyone looks up to them.
• The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.
• The object of the superior man is truth.
• The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.