1,153 Quotes by Confucius

The administration of government lies in getting proper men. Such men are to be got by means of the ruler's own character. That character is to be cultivated by his treading in the ways of duty. And the treading those ways of duty is to be cultivated by the cherishing of benevolence.

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

Think no vice so small that you may commit it, and no virtue so small that you may over look it.

A knight whose heart is set upon the Way, but who is ashamed of wearing shabby clothes and eating coarse food, is not worth calling into counsel.

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

Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator.

If a man has no humaneness what can his propriety be like? If a man has no humaneness what can his happiness be like?

Sincerity is the end and beginning of things; without sincerity there would be nothing.

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