Quote collection
904 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"If the gentleman is not serious, he will not be respected, and his learning will not be on a firm foundation. He considers loyalty and faithfulness to be fundamental, has no friends who are not like him, and when he has made mistakes, he is not afraid of correcting them."
"Wisdom delights in water; love delights in hills. Wisdom is stirring; love is quiet. Wisdom is merry; love grows old."
"Wealth and rank are what men desire, but unless they be obtained in the right way they may not be possessed. Poverty and obscurity are what men detest; but unless prosperity be brought about in the right way, they are not to be abandoned."
"Study as though you cannot catch up to it, and as though you fear you are going to lose it."
"When words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty."
"If you lead the people with correctness, who will dare not be correct?"
"There are not the weeds the ones that drown the good seed, but the negligence of the peasant."
"Women and people of low birth are very hard to deal with. If you are friendly to them, they get out of hand, and if you keep your distance, they resent it."
"The tongue must be heavy indeed, because so few people can hold it"
"Confucius say... politician is one who shakes your hand before elections and your confidence after."
"He who wished to secure the good of others, has already secured his own."
"When a man comes to me, I accept him at his best, not at his worst. Why make so much ado? When a man washes his hands before paying a visit, and you receive him in that clean state, you do not thereby stand surety for his always having been clean in the past."
"Character is the backbone of our human culture. Music is the flowering of character."
"When I walk along with two others, from at least one I will be able to learn."
"The gentleman holds justice to be of highest importance. If a gentleman has courage but neglects justice, he becomes insurgent. If an inferior man has courage but neglects justice, he becomes a thief."
"The journey with a 1000 miles begins with one step."
"Learn as if you were not reaching your goal and as though you were scared of missing it"
"The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress."
"Think no vice so small that you may commit it, and no virtue so small that you may over look it."
"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."