Confucius Says

Excerpts from the Analects

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Statue of Confucius in Yueyang, China which sits on the shore of the Dongting Lake. (Steve Webel/flickr)

5:5
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. If a man of honor forsakes virtue how is he to fulfill the obligations of his name? A man of honor never disregards virtue, even for the space of a single meal. In moments of haste he cleaves to it; in seasons of peril he cleaves to it.

5:11
What I do not wish others to do to me, that also I wish not to do to them.

15:20
The noble man seeks what he wants in himself; the inferior man seeks it from others.

11:11
While still unable to do your duty to the living, how can you do your duty to the dead? Not yet understanding life, how can you understand death?

2:15
Learning without thinking is useless. Thinking without learning is dangerous.

2:17
Shall I teach you the meaning of knowledge? When you know a thing to recognize that you know it; and when you do not, to know that you do not know—that is knowledge.

15:38
In teaching there should be no class distinctions.

Confucius. The Analects. Translated by William Edward Soothill. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1995.