Confucianism Quotes

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

If you don't know how to serve men, why worry about serving the gods?

Confucianism strongly condemned the use of drugs like opium.

The gods should certainly be revered, but kept at a distance... . The way is not beyond man; he who creates a way outside of man cannot make it a true way. A good man is content with changing man, and that is enough for him.

I was raised a Christian but have looked at other religions, some of the Eastern things. I was into Taoism for a while and Confucianism. Just different approaches and some have really stayed with me.

If a man has no humaneness what can his propriety be like? If a man has no humaneness what can his happiness be like?

They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.

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

The superior man cannot be known in little matters, but he may be entrusted with great concerns. The small man may not be entrusted with great concerns, but he may be known in little matters.

I regard monotheism as the greatest disaster ever to befall the human race. I see no good in Judaism, Christianity, or Islam - good people, yes, but any religion based on a single, well, frenzied and virulent god, is not as useful to the human race as, say, Confucianism, which is not a religion but an ethical and educational system.

To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.

There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute.

Therefore the superior man is watchful over himself, when he is alone.

Those who know the TRUTH are not equal to those who love it.

The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.

When the Superior Man eats he does not try to stuff himself; at rest he does not seek perfect comfort; he is diligent in his work and careful in speech. He avails himself to people of the Tao and thereby corrects himself. This is the kind of person of whom you can say, "he loves learning."

Look at the means which a man employs, consider his motives, observe his pleasures. A man simply cannot conceal himself!

The Superior Man is all-embracing and not partial. The inferior man is partial and not all-embracing.

Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.

Great as heaven and earth are, men still find some things in them with which to be dissatisfied. Thus it is that, were the superior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing in the world would be found able to embrace it, and were he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world would be found able to split it.

He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.

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.

Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.

Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand.

Study the past if you would define the future. --CONFUCIUS

Under Confucianism, the use of precisely measured court music, prescribed steps, actions, and phrases all added up to an extremely complex system of rituals, each used for a particular purpose at a particular time.

Happiness exist when you don't know a thing

What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.

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.

Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned?

Subtract miracles from Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, or Toaism, and you have essentially the same religion left. Subtract miracles from Christianity, and you have nothing but the cliches and platitudes most American Christians get weekly (and weakly) from their pulpits.

Every single one of the major world faiths, whether we're talking about Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Darwinism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have all come to the conclusion that what holds us back from our better self is ego, selfishness, greed, unkindness, hatred. And it all springs from a sense of thwarted ego.

Silence is a true friend who never betrays.

Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.

All of Chinese thinking - Confucianism, Taoism, as well as Buddhism - contains the idea that in the course of life, man will shape harmoniously those psychic and physical predispositions that he received as capital assets by unifying them and giving them form from within a center.

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

In archery we have something like the way of the superior man. When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.

Choose a career you love and you will never have to go to work.

Respect yourself and others will respect you.

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

When anger rises, think of the consequences.

The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

Chinese culture in general is not very religious. Confucianism is more a code of ethics than a religion, and ancestor worship is a way for parents to control you even after theyre dead.

The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come.

The man who in view of gain thinks of righteousness; who in the view of danger is prepared to give up his life; and who does not forget an old agreement however far back it extends - such a man may be reckoned a complete man.

There is a growing interest in Confucianism in China and other parts of the world. More and more followers of Confucianism are advocating a deeper study of his philosophies. Confucius' ideals stand true even today. His philosophy on how to be a Junzi or the perfect gentleman is based on the simple ideology of love and tolerance.

A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

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

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.