Confucius People Quotations

Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.

To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.

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

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

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

The people may be made to follow a path of action but they may not be made to understand it.

You can successfully force people to follow a certain course, but you cannot force them to understand it.

Tell people - and they may forget... show them - they may remember... but involve them and they will understand.

When people are educated, the distinction between classes disappears.

The Master said, “Wealth and honor are things that all people desire, and yet unless they are acquired in the proper way I will not abide them. Poverty and disgrace are things that all people hate, and yet unless they are avoided in the proper way I will not despise them. “If the gentleman abandons ren, how can he be worthy of that name? The gentleman does not violate ren even for the amount of time required to eat a meal. Even in times of urgency or distress, he does not depart from it.” (Analects 4.5)

The Master said, “What a worthy man was Yan Hui! Living in a narrow alley, subsisting upon meager bits of rice and water—other people could not have borne such hardship, and yet it never spoiled Hui’s joy. What a worthy man was Hui!” (Analects 6.11)

The demands that good people make are upon themselves; Those that bad people make are upon others.

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

To study and constantly, is this not a pleasure? To have friends come from far away places, is this not a joy? If people do not recognize your worth, but this does not worry you, are you not a true gentleman?

When a person should be spoken with, and you don't speak with them, you lose them. When a person shouldn't be spoken with and you speak to them, you waste your breath. The wise do not lose people, nor do they waste their breath.

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

The good man does not grieve that other people do not recognize his merits. His only anxiety is lest he should fail to recognize theirs.

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

Wouldst thou know if a people be well governed, or if its laws be good or bad, examine the music it practices.

The more people know, the more they forgive.

Guide the people by law, subdue them by punishment; they may shun crime, but will be void of shame. Guide them by example, subdue them by courtesy; they will learn shame, and come to be good.

How transcendent is the virtue of the middle conduct! Rare for a long time has been its practice among the people.

Behave when away from home as though you were in the presence of an honored guest. Employ the people as though you were assisting at an important sacrifice. Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no feelings of opposition to you, whether it is the affairs of a state that you are handling or the affairs of a family.

Every piece of marble has a statue in it waiting to be released by a person of sufficient skill to chip away the unnecessary parts. Just as the sculptor is to the marble, so is education to the soul. It releases it. For only educated people are free people. You cannot create a statue by smashing the marble with a hammer, and you cannot by the force of arms release the spirit or the soul of people.

Among the appliances to transform the people, sound and appearances are but trivial influences.

The superior person tries to promote music as a means to the perfection of human culture. When such music prevails, and people's minds are led towards the right ideals and aspirations, we may see the appearance of a great nation.

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

If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame.

A reasonable man adjusts himself to the world. An unreasonable man expects the world to adjust itself to him. Therefore all progress is made by unreasonable people.

If you would govern a state of a thousand chariots, you must pay strict attention to business, be true to your word, be economical in expenditure and love the people.

From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides.

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

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

The people may be put into the way they should go, though they may not be put into the way of understanding it.

To give oneself ernestly to securing righteousness and justice among the people, and while respecting the gods and demons, to keep aloof from them, that may be called wisdom.

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

Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame. Guide them by virtue, keep them in line with the rites, and they will, besides having a sense of shame, reform themselves.

Even if people do not know what real kindness is, they nonetheless have it within them.

It is the obligation of the ruler to continually renew himself in order to renew the people by his example.

Don't worry that other people don't know you; worry that you don't know other people.

When wealth is centralized, the people are dispersed. When wealth is distributed, the people are brought together.

The requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food, sufficiency of military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler.

Good people strengthen themselves ceaselessly

When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty.

When the Superior Man eats he does not try to stuff himself; at rest he does not seek perfect comfort; he is diligent in his work and careful in speech. He avails himself to people of the Tao and thereby corrects himself. This is the kind of person of whom you can say, 'he loves learning.'

Please stop waiting for a better and more appropriate time to become happy and focus on the moment you live in. Happiness is not an arrival, it is the journey itself. Many people seek for happiness above the height of human beings, some below. Yet, happiness is exactly at the exact height of human beings.

The noble-minded are calm and steady. Little people are forever fussing and fretting.

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

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

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

All people are the same; only their habits differ.