Confucius Quotes

No social system, however, elevates "Goodness" to a deciding principle, whether the realm be art, politics, or economics.

Ye must leave righteous ways behind, not to speak of unrighteous ways.

When the Way is lost there is virtue. When virtue is lost there is benevolence. When benevolence is lost there is righteousness. When righteousness is lost there are rituals.

Happiness is not the end of life: character is.

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

One has only as much morality as one has philosophy and poetry.

Morals, not Art or Literature.

Honesty and integrity is an important part of our character, my character.

And one of the elders of the city , said , speak to us of good and evil. And he answered : You are good in countless ways , and you are not evil when you are not good .

All the devils respect virtue.

It is not enough merely possess virtue, as if it were an art; it should be practiced.

Birth means nothing where there is no virtue.

Without courage there cannot be truth, and without truth there can be no other virtue.

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.

A gentleman considers what is right; the vulgar consider what will pay.

Experience shows us Wealth unchaperoned by Virtue is never an innocuous neighbor.

If virtue precede us every step will be safe.

Honesty is nothin' compared to decency.

It is no easy task to be good.

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.

I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality.

Nothing makes a man so virtuous as belief of the truth. A lying doctrine will soon beget a lying practice. A man cannot have an erroneous belief without by-and-by having an erroneous life. I believe the one thing naturally begets the other.

Virtue is not a thing you can have by halves; it is or it is not.

Let him leave the imperial court, who wishes to be virtuous. Virtue and absolute power cannot coexist.