Confucius
Confucius
Confucius was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history...
NationalityChinese
ProfessionPhilosopher
CountryChina
greatness men perfect
How great is the path proper to the Sage! Like overflowing water, it sends forth and nourishes all things, and rises up to the height of heaven. All-complete is its greatness! It embraces the three hundred rules of ceremony, and the three thousand rules of demeanor. It waits for the proper man, and then it is trodden. Hence it is said, 'Only by perfect virtue can the perfect path, in all its courses, be made a fact.'
greatness practice annoyed
Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned? Isn't it also great when friends visit from distant places? If one remains not annoyed when his greatness is not recognized in his time, isn't he a sage?
greatness men honor
The superior man honors his virtuous nature, and maintains constant inquiry and study, seeking to carry it out to its breadth and greatness, so as to omit none of the more exquisite and minute points which it embraces, and to raise it to its greatest height and brilliancy.
greatness men heaven
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.
arm bent joy midst pillow rice water
With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bent arm for a pillow -- I have still joy in the midst of all these things.
force impossible knowing words
Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know men.
heaven way sincerity
Sincerity is the way of heaven.
love inspirational funny
Learn, as if never overtaking your object, and yet as if apprehensive of losing it.
spiritual goodness endure
Without Goodness one cannot enjoy enduring happiness
educational past confucianism
Study the past if you would define the future. 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. Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
integrity men may
When a man's knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again.
integrity men fire
Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.
integrity men morality
Possessed of courage but devoid of morality, a superior man will make trouble while a small man will be a brigand.
integrity no-friends faults
Make faithfulness and truth thy masters: have no friends unlike thyself: be not ashamed to mend thy faults.