The Sayings Of Confucius

by Confucius

Thrice daily I ask myself: In dealing for others, have I been unfaithful? Have I been untrue to friends? Do I practise what I preach?

To change nothing in thy father's ways for three years may be called pious.

The Master said, The three hundred poems are summed up in the one line, Think no evil.

The Master said, Learning without thought is naught; thought without learning is dangerous.

The Master said, A man without love, what is courtesy to him? A man without love, what is music to him?

glad, but not wanton; it is sad, but not morbid.

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.

At sight of worth, think to grow like it; at sight of baseness, search thyself within.

A gentleman wishes to be slow to speak and quick to do.

What is the good of being glib? Fighting men with tongue-craft mostly makes men hate you.

Because Po-yi and Shu-ch'i never remembered old wickedness they made few enemies.

We should like to hear your wishes, Sir. The Master said, To give the old folk peace, to be true to friends, and to have a heart for the young.

Not making the most of my mind, want of thoroughness in learning, failure to do the right when told it, lack of strength to overcome faults; these are my sorrows.

Eating coarse rice and drinking water, with bent arm for pillow, we may be merry; but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.

Without good form attentions grow into fussiness, heed becomes fearfulness, daring becomes unruliness, frankness becomes rudeness.

Three branches of the Way are dear to a gentleman: To banish from his bearing violence and disdain; to sort his face to the truth, and to banish from his speech what is low or unseemly.

The people may be made to follow, we cannot make them understand.

Who would not be pleased by a guiding word? But to think it out is better.

Put faithfulness and truth first; have no friends unlike thyself; be not ashamed to mend thy faults.

We know not life, said the Master, how can we know death?

Too far, said the Master, is no nearer than not far enough.

Commend a man for plain speaking: he may prove a gentleman, or else but seeming honest.

The Master said, I held thee for dead. He answered, Whilst my Master lives how should I dare to die?

Love is to conquer self and turn to courtesy.

Tzu-kung asked, What is kingcraft? The Master said, Food enough, troops enough, and the trust of the people.

For the lord to be lord and the liege, liege, the father to be father and the son, son.

Breadth of reading and the ties of courtesy will keep us, too, from false paths.

To rule is to set straight. If ye give a straight lead, Sir, who will dare not go straight?

The eminent man is plain and straight, and loves right. He weighs words and scans looks; he takes pains to come down to men. And he shall be eminent in the state and eminent in his house.

Fight the bad in thee, not the bad in other men, will not evil be mended?

When Heaven begat the people, the man that first understood was sent to waken those slow to understand, and the man that first woke was sent to waken those slow to wake.

Tzu-lu asked how to rule. The Master said, Go before; work hard. When asked to say more, he said, Never flag.

Let officers act first; overlook small faults, lift up brains and worth.

Though a man have conned three hundred poems, if he stands helpless when put to govern, if he cannot answer for himself when he is sent to the four corners of the earth, many as they are, what have they done for him?

The man of upright life is obeyed before he speaks; commands even go unheeded when the life is crooked.

What is governing to a man that can rule himself? If he cannot rule himself, how shall he rule others?

Be not eager for haste; look not for small gains. Nothing done in haste is thorough, and looking for small gains big things are left undone.

It would be better if all the good men of the countryside loved him and all the bad men hated him.

To take untaught men to war is called throwing them away.

when the land has lost the Way, be fearless in deed but soft of speech.

A man of mind can always talk, but talkers are not always men of mind. Love is always bold, though boldness is found without love.

Alas! there have been gentlemen without love! But there has never been a small man that was not wanting in love.

Not to grumble at being poor is hard, not to be proud of wealth is easy.

He that in sight of gain thinks of right, who when danger looms stakes his life, who, though the bond be old, does not forget what he has been saying all his life, might make a full-grown man.

Tzu-lu asked how to serve a lord. The Master said, Never cheat him; stand up to him.

When not in office discuss not policy.

Not to expect to be cheated, nor to look for falsehood, and yet to see them coming, shows worth in a man.

said, Men of worth flee the world; the next best flee the land. Then come those that go at a look, then those that go at words.

When those above love courtesy, the people are easy to lead.

Gentlemen have indeed to face want, said the Master. The small man, when he is in want, runs to excess.