Confucius Way Quotations

Sincerity is the way of heaven.

The really faithful lover of learning holds fast to the Good Way till death.

If doing what ought to be done be made the first business and success a secondary consideration--is not this the way to exalt virtue?

Sincerity is that whereby self-completion is effected, and its way is that by which man must direct himself.

The Way is not for, but from, man; if we take the Way as something superhuman, beyond man, this is not the real Way.

Not to mend one's ways when one has erred is to err indeed.

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

The ideal teacher guides his students but does not pull them along; he urges them to go forward and does not suppress them; he opens the way but does not take them to the place.

It is the way of the superior man to prefer the concealment of his virtue, while it daily becomes more illustrious, and it is the way of the mean man to seek notoriety, while he daily goes more and more to ruin.

The Master said, I set my heart on the Way, base myself on virtue, lean upon benevolence for support and take my recreation in the arts.

Wisdom, humanity & courage, these three are universal virtues. The way by which they are practiced are one.

The Master said, “A true gentleman is one who has set his heart upon the Way. A fellow who is ashamed merely of shabby clothing or modest meals is not even worth conversing with.” (Analects 4.9)

The superior man is firm in the right way and not merely firm.

The failure to cultivate virtue, the failure to examine and analyze what I have learned, the inability to move toward righteousness after being shown the way, the inability to correct my faults-these are the causes of my grief.

The way you cut your meat reflects the way you live.

You turn the handle the way it goes, not the way it ought to go

If there were an honorable way to get rich, I’d do it, even if it meant being a stooge standing around with a whip. But there isn’t an honorable way, so I just do what I like.

There is one single thread binding my way together...the way of the Master consists in doing one's best...that is all.

The way out is through the door. Why is it that no one will use this method?