Quotes by Confucius

Learning without thought is labor lost thought without learning is perilous.

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.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of ones ignorance.

To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.

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.

I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.

There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest.

If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?

The object of the superior man is truth.

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.

Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.

Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.

To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage, or of principle.

We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.

Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself.

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.

An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.

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.

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, dont adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.

The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest success only comes later.