Confucius was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and Vietnamese thought and life. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. This list looks at some of his greatest quotations – all of which are as applicable to us today as they were when he wrote them in the fourth century BC.
1. Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.
2. Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.
3. It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.
4. Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.
5. What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.
6. They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.
7. I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.
8. If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.
9. Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
10. Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.
11. The cautious seldom err.
12. The superior man cannot be known in little matters, but he may be entrusted with great concerns. The small man may not be entrusted with great concerns, but he may be known in little matters.
13. The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.
14. Things that are done, it is needless to speak about…things that are past, it is needless to blame.
15. Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.
16. What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.
17. When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it – this is knowledge.
18. With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow – I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honors acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud.
19. Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.
20. To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.
Contributor: JFrater
Whoa! A lot of people drinking vinegar today.
I don’t intend to be mean, but I could frankly care less about what some man said a long time ago. Yes, he is considered to be a wise man, but he is JUST A MAN, no better or worse than anyone else.
I don’t want to get too “Biblical” here, but if we should be learning from anyone, it should be Jesus Christ.
Confucionism is a bunch of 1 of 2 things:
1. common sense
2. utter nonsense.
Nice work, thanks JF. Personally, I prefer Taoism,
but, hey, each to their own. No 1 and No 18 are the sayings I like best on this list.
Confucius says never play leapfrog with a unicorn.
That’s the only one I know that’s not in the comments
Confucius say baseball is wrong. Man with four balls cannot walk.
amac: It was easy enough for you to say. Why not him? Do you really think his comment wasn’t targeted?
My favourite….
Confucius say…..
“Man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day.” Boom tish
I didn’t know he could speak english.
@ EsBravo32, oh no, dont’worry, you didn’t sound at all biblical hahahaha
Interesting how some people get so offended and defensive for jfrater when somebody expresses their distaste for a list.
I’m not defending it, but the comments box enables people to express their opinions, however nonconstructive those opinions may be. Don’t get upset that they werent as intrigued as you. Just dont acknowledge them, cus jfrater doesn’t need you to hold his hand, it makes you look silly.
62. EsBravo32 – “but I could frankly care less about what some man said a long time ago…”
I don’t know about you but 2000 years ago seems like a long time ago and that’s roughly the time Jesus Christ was alive. Just read your complaint in the Scientist list as well. Apparently your M.O. is to declare every noted person as irrelevant. I’d like to see what you’ve done that surpasses these men. A cure for cancer? The ability make a universally-acknowledged, truly perfect martini? Or perhaps threading an embroidery needle unaided in one fell swoop? None of the above? Didn’t think so…
EsBravo32 (#62): You should care what men said a long time ago. It’s part of your life NOW, what they said or did. Also, isn’t it fascinating, that people 2500 years ago had the same morale basis as us now? As someone said in the comments already: Quote 16, the golden rule.
Of course he was just a man, that’s the cool thing about it.
Same as Jesus, btw.
We can learn from both, Jesus and Confucius. (Ok, better leave out that nasty thing Jesus did to the fruitless fig tree, but guess he was ok as a whole.)
Actually, where’s the difference anyway? If you just leave out the “god” part, the bible’s got pretty many nice rules how to behave so no one gets hurt.
The 10 commandments, eg., are just common sense.
No?
Confucius say…If the universe is listing, stop drinking
Confucius say…
We’re gonna need a bigger boat
confucius say…Don’t drink and park, accidents cause people.
Misogynistic guns on the list, g – Confucius was an absolute ***** yo. I’ve lived in Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam and now live in China – mock my words when I tell you that all the *****ism and jingoism in those countries come from that self-righteous coont, kong zi. Mad grim list to wake up to yo
So I have an IB oral for Spanish on tomorrow, and I’m trying to memorise like 1000 words, but I decided to take a break and go to listverse. I read the list, was kind of *****ed cuz it’s not one of thoose bizarre lists, but then I read the comments and was very, very satisfied. Btw JFrater, what are the chances that a list I make would be put up?
jajdude, do you guys in china think Buick is cool?
@ shamzahm & anyone else interested in list submissions or more site info-
http://listverse.com/submissions
if you scroll to top of front page and check out the navbar it has ‘buttons’ to take you to all the different aspects of this site from list submissions, to ‘about’ & contact and even our store!
favorite one:
confucius say: man who drop watch in toilet, have *****ty time. lol.
Awesome list. One of the reasons I like this list is that it really does present someone for everyone in its lists every day. Sure, some people may not like as well as others, but you always know that there will be another list of the kind you like eventually.
20. To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.
Interesting.
Number 3 and 4 makes me think of the first marathon I ran.
And to be stupid:
“Man goes to bed with itchy bum, wakes up with smelly finger”
jf you missed my favorite
Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life
“Why are Americans so stupid?”
“Bakit napaka bobo ng mga Americano?”
“Nganong bugok kaayo ang mga Americano?”
-it’s a query not a quote but I like it.
Confucius say-Woman who fly airplane upside down have crackup.
#85-By Americans do you mean North,Central or South ?
Confucius wasnt apparently half as intelligent as some people here. But have to admit, hilarious comments. Is there a seperate subject of common sense taught somewhere?
#62. EsBravo32 -
“I don’t intend to be mean, but I could frankly care less about what some man said a long time ago. Yes, he is considered to be a wise man, but he is JUST A MAN, no better or worse than anyone else.
I don’t want to get too “Biblical” here, but if we should be learning from anyone, it should be Jesus Christ.”
Way to contradict yourself there. I feel at this point I should point out that much of what Jesus taught about morality and wisdom was already written in a far more succinct way by Confucius’ followers some 500 years before.
“Confucionism is a bunch of 1 of 2 things:
1. common sense
2. utter nonsense.”
Same for Christianity. The only difference is that Confucianism doesn’t sentence non-followers to an eternity of suffering. In other words, the teachings stand up for themselves, they don’t require threats to inspire belief.
Awesome list by the way. I always enjoy the “quotes” lists.
#62. EsBravo32
To compare Jesus to Confucius is interesting. Both were exception teachers. But it’s worth noting:
Jesus didn’t write down his teachings either. Many of the books in the bible were written 50-70 years later. Some of the disciples were illiterate, so their story is second hand from someone they told who could write.
Some of the books in the bible were written something like 200 years later from stories passed down word to mouth. The Official organisation of the bible and Christianity didn’t happen until the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
Lets hope everyone had really good memories.
It doesn’t matter what name you give to wisdom, be it “Buddha”, “Jesus”, Confucius”, or “Benjamin Franklin”. The point is to learn from it. “And, if you’re wise, you’re gonna be learning right up to the last minute”- Haydn Freeque.
Tho I gotta say, I love the “Confucius” jokes! They often contain more wisdom than those attributed to the man himself! Kinda like bumper-stickers!
BTW, “The first step to wisdom is to admit that you know nothing”
I do find it unfortunate that so many people have to pop off about how unexciting or unwhatever a given list is here, as if they’re all mini-Simon Cowells. You’re not required to rate these lists, and most of you who do so are not betraying any great background of education, erudition or taste. (Which means I’m not really picking on Jajdude, who at least has a cultural perspective for not liking Confucius’ philosophy — and if misogyny makes you unhappy, Jaj, I say “righteous guns, g.”) Trollishness, here or on any other site, is not a virtue. A particular list may be entertaining and edifying to some, bland and boring to others. Jamie doesn’t need to “get it sorted out” — he’s got it thoroughly sorted, I think. Dig it or feel free to surf on, but many of us find the sophomoric vitriol in some comments really too tedious, I think.
I agree whole-heartedly with MartinL, and I love the phrase “sophomoric vitriol”.
yes I taught him well. His most famous quote of course is “stupid is as stupid does”.
I studied Confucius and his philosophy in college and actually liked it…weird…I hated all the other stuff.
Loved the ‘Confucius Says’ comments…got one that is my favorite:
“Don’t sweat the petty stuff … and don’t pet the sweaty stuff.”
“Rape is impossible. Woman run faster with dress up than man with pants down”
Wow, I’d never really looked at any of Confucious’ -real- sayings before. I figured they’d all be gobbledygook, like Olde English. ^-^ Seems like he had his head screwed on the right way, to me.
Really like the quote lists, Jfrater. Keep up the good work!
“Honorable chemist who *****yse dog urine discover K9P”
Got the ton! And (seriously) thanks for a welcome list.
This has got to be one of my favorite lists so far.
hehe love the Confucious jokes…
Here are some that I don’t think were mentioned:
Confucious says…
– Dumb man climb tree to get cherry, wise man spread limbs.
– House without toilet is uncanny.
– Panties not best thing on earth, but next to it.
– It is good for girl to meet boy in park, but better for boy to park meat in girl.
– Woman laid in tomb may soon become mummy.
– Man who jizz in cash register come into money.
– Man trapped in pantry have ass in jam.
– Man who lay woman on ground gets piece on earth.
16 is not like the “golden rule,” its much better. the golden rule encourages for you to to “do unto others, as you would like others to do unto you.” and something is very wrong right there. if misunderstood; things could go bad.
Didn’t Confucious also say ” Dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t” ?
Snowdog: Those were pretty good. I almost lost my coffee. Very 105%.
i love the last one
@ #1
That is my favorite quote by confucius, and im glad you included it into this list. =]
man who walk in airport turnstile sideways going to Bangkok
Here’s a fact for the next “Top 10 facts you didn’t know you didn’t care about” list, Confusius is actually a English corruption of his name, so there.
For centuries the official doctrine in Korea was Neo-Confucianism. I’m not quite sure what the difference is (I don’t think it’s got anything to do with The Matrix, though), but I’ll agree with the dudester that there are (still) serious *****ism and jingoism in Korea.
One thing I do know about Neo-Confuciansism is that it taught mutual obligation between king and subjects; husband/father and family etc. In reality, the rich and/or (more) powerful used it to get their benefit without really giving their obligated due in return. None of which can be blamed on Confucius himself. The rich and the powerful do that no matter what teachings they live by, or use.
I have to agree with some earlier comments that these things are simple common sense and not that profound. However that’s the point really. That we find them trivial means that they are ingrained into our world view, which demonstrates exactly how important an influence these teachings are. In the same way every child learns Newton’s law of motion in school, but we still ackowledge the genius it took to derive them in the first place. It should be the same with our philosophy.
My favourite, linking two recent lists:
Confucius says – man who put penis in peanut butter jar is f*cking nuts!
Confucious say – you go to jail, bad boy.
This was a great list. Truly inspiring quotes.
…Girl who fly upside down have crack-up.
Quit stealing my jokes Deziner.
bigski, (116),
When I heard it originally, it went: … have honorable crack-up. Very respectful in an oriental way, I thought!
Anon- Im from the south that`s how we talk.
I agree with EsBravo32.
Confucius say : Man who go bed with itchy bum, wake u with smelly finger.