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People Quotes by Confucius

74 People quotes by Confucius

All People quotes Confucius’s page

Studying for self‑improvement is contrasted with learning just to impress others. The thoughts warn that speaking at the wrong time wastes energy, and that sending untrained people to war is disastrous. They also praise music as a path to cultural perfection and encourage aiming high, even if the target is the moon.

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Good people strengthen themselves ceaselessly

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A perfumed butthole is still a butthole.

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If your desire is for good, the people will be good.

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Wisdom is rooted in watching with affection the way people grow.

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“You can force the people to obey; you cannot force them to understand.”

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“If I am walking with two people, both will be my teachers”

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The funniest people are the saddest once

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The tongue must be heavy indeed, because so few people can hold it

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

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Cultivated people foster what is good in others, not what is bad. Petty people do the opposite.

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In old days men studied for the sake of self-improvement; nowadays men study in order to impress other people.

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Love should start from people close to us, then be extended to other people, to strangers, and eventually to the world

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Don't worry if people don't recognize your merits; worry that you may not recognize theirs.

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If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the…

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By gaining the people, the kingdom is gained; by losing the people, the kingdom is lost.

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What the great learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence.

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A reasonable man adjusts himself to the world. An unreasonable man expects the world to adjust itself to him. Therefore all progress…

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Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have…

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When the Superior Man eats he does not try to stuff himself; at rest he does not seek perfect comfort; he is…

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Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good,…

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If one leads them with administrative measures and uses punishments to make them conform, the people will be evasive, but if one…

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If you would govern a state of a thousand chariots (a small-to-middle-size state), you must pay strict attention to business, be true…

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To give oneself ernestly to securing righteousness and justice among the people, and while respecting the gods and demons, to keep aloof…

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The superior person tries to promote music as a means to the perfection of human culture. When such music prevails, and people's…

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Behave when away from home as though you were in the presence of an honored guest. Employ the people as though you…

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The Master said, "Wealth and honor are things that all people desire, and yet unless they are acquired in the proper way…

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Every piece of marble has a statue in it waiting to be released by a person of sufficient skill to chip away…

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When abroad, behaveto everyone as if interviewing an honored guest; in directing the people, act as if you were assisting at a…

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There are 3 elements essential in the matters of the State, Food, Military equipment, and Confidence of the people in the ruler.…

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Lead the people with administrative injunctions and put them in their place with penal law, and they will avoid punishments but will…

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Tzu Chang asked Confucius about jen. Confucius said, "If you can practice these five things with all the people, you can be…

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On matters beyond his ken a gentleman speaks with caution. If names are not right, words are misused. When words are misused,…

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The only people who cannot change are the most wise and the most stupid.

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The more people know, the more they forgive.

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If you lead the people with correctness, who will dare not be correct?

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All people are the same; only their habits differ.

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When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty.

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People with virtue must speak out; People who speak are not all virtuous.

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Go before the people with your example, and be laborious in their affairs.

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To lead uninstructed people to war is to throw them away.

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More by Confucius

Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.

The superior man is distressed by his want (lack) of ability

In ancient times, those who wished to illuminate the world with virtue first brought order to their nations. Wishing to order well their nations,…

Better than the one who knows what is right is the one who loves what is right.

Knowledge is merely brilliance in organization of ideas and not wisdom. The truly wise person goes beyond knowledge.

I live in a very small house, but my windows look out on a very large world.

To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men;…

The real fault is to have faults and not amend them.

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

A picture is poem without words.

Heaven means to be one with God.

Does Heaven ever speak? The four seasons come and go, and all creatures thrive and grow. Does Heaven ever speak!

To study and at times practice what one has learned, is this not a pleasure?

Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.

There is only one thing in life which never changes, and it is change.