Confucius Quotes

The superior man... does not set his mind either for or against anything, he will pursue whatever is right. The superior man thinks of virtue, the common man of comfort.

Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.

Virtue is the desire of things honourable and the power of attaining them.

Character is in turn the enduring source of virtue. It stands by itself and excites admiration in others. It is not obedience to authority, and while it is often consistent with and reinforced by religious belief, it is not piety.

I have seen men incapable of the sciences, but never any incapable of virtue.

It is to be steadily inculcated, that virtue is the highest proof of understanding, and the only solid basis of greatness.

In day-to-day life, you have stimulus to behave unethically, but in the long term, it always pays off to be ethical.

There is no real excellence in all of this world which can be separated from right living.

Let us not disdain glory too much; nothing is finer, except virtue. The height of happiness would be to unite both in this life.

That which is selfish is immoral, and that which is unselfish is moral.

We have been fortunate enough to live at a time when virtue, though it does not triumph, is nonetheless not always tormented by attack dogs. Beaten down, sickly, virtue has now been allowed to enter in all its tatters and sit in the corner, as long as it doesn't raise its voice.

When "Do no Evil" has been understood, Then learn the harder, braver rule, "Do Good.

A man may be very sincere in good principles, without having good practice.

Virtue and decency are so nearly related that it is difficult to separate them from each other but in our imagination.

There is no greater wealth than Virtue,And no greater loss than to forget it.

If throughout your life you abstain from murder, theft, fornication, perjury, blasphemy, and disrespect toward your parents, church, and your king, you are conventionally held to deserve moral admiration even if you have never done a single kind, generous or useful action. This very inadequate notion of virtue is an outcome of taboo morality, and has done untold harm.

I have long served virtue, And never ta'en wages of her.

Noble be man, helpful and good!

I choose goodness... I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.

The only reward of virtue is virtue.

Honesty is not only the deepest policy, but the highest wisdom; since, however difficult it may be for integrity to get on, it is a thousand times more difficult for knavery to get off; and no error is more fatal than that of those who think that Virtue has no other reward because they have heard that she is her own.

Did it ever strike you that goodness is not merely a beautiful thing, but by far the most beautiful thing in the whole world? So that nothing is to be compared for value with goodness; that riches, honor, power, pleasure, learning, the whole world and all in it, are not worth having in comparison with being good; and the utterly best thing for a person is to be good, even though they were never to be rewarded for it.

I never did a right thing or abstained from a wrong one from any consideration of reward or punishment.

Virtue is the truest liberty.