The Analects (Dover Thrift Editions)
by Confucius
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 112)
Read in May, 2008
It was interesting to read this book after all the articles I've been reading about Chinese culture due to the Olympics being in Beijing this summer. I got confused with all the references to people I've never heard of, but there were some quotations that I liked:
"The failure to cultivate virtue, the failure to put into practice what I have learnt, hearing what is right and being unable to move towards it, being unable to change what is not good -- these are my worries."
"...more
"The failure to cultivate virtue, the failure to put into practice what I have learnt, hearing what is right and being unable to move towards it, being unable to change what is not good -- these are my worries."
"...more
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Read in September, 2008
Like most Westerners I had in my mind that Confucius was a homily spinner whose little sayings ended up in fortune cookies because of their brevity.
Boy, was I wrong!
Simply put, Confucius was very concerned with morality, virtue, loyalty, filial piety and living up to ideals. He was conservative in that he didn't question, much, the underpinnings of what is moral, right and just, but he did promote hard the concept of meritocracy. He emphasized the gentleman, a kind of ideal man, and th...more
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Read in March, 2008
This book was average with a large standard deviation.
Stay with me folks. I realize this is a classic of world literature, but unless you have a better than good grasp of ancient Chinese history and poetry, much of this book will just go right over your head with an odd buzzing noise that sounds a lot like a bunch of old men gossping about people you don't know.
The good news is that there are entire sections penetrable to the regular American reader with lots of good insights on living ...more
Stay with me folks. I realize this is a classic of world literature, but unless you have a better than good grasp of ancient Chinese history and poetry, much of this book will just go right over your head with an odd buzzing noise that sounds a lot like a bunch of old men gossping about people you don't know.
The good news is that there are entire sections penetrable to the regular American reader with lots of good insights on living ...more
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Confucius was one of the world's first conservatives. He recognizes the importance of private property and liberty in the natural order. The Confucians were the first to note the spontaneous order of the market.
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